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IN  THE 

3PI1^IT  LAffD3. 


BY 


FRANOHEZZO. 


TRANSCRIBED  BY  A.  FARNESE. 


Oh,  Star  of  Hope,  that  shines  to  bless 
The  Wanderer  hrough  Lite's  Wilderness! 
Angels  of  Love— say  are  ye  come 
To  lead  the  Weary  Wanderer  home? 


CHICAGO  : 

THE  PROGRESSIVE  THINKER  PUBLISHING  HOUSE, 

1901. 


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preface  b£  tbe  {Transcriber, 

The  following  narrative  was  written  more  than  a  year 
ago,  and  in  giving  it  to  the  public  I  do  not  claim  to  be  its 
author,  since  I  have  only  acted  the  part  of  an  amanuensis 
and  endeavored  to  write  down  as  truthfully  and  as  care- 
fully as  I  could,  the  words  given  to  me  by  the  Spirit 
Author  himself,  who  is  one  of  several  spirits  who  have  de- 
sired me  to  write  down  for  them  their  experiences  in  the 
spirit  world. 

I  have  had  to  write  the  words  as  fast  as  my  pen  could 
travel  over  the  paper,  and  many  of  the  experiences  de- 
scribed and  opinions  advanced  are  quite  contrary  to  what 
I  myself  believed  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  conditions 
of  life  in  the  world  of  spirits. 

The  Spirit  Author  Franchezzo  I  have  frequently  seen 
materialized,  and  he  has  been  recognized  on  these  occa- 
sions by  friends  who  knew  him  in  earth  life. 

Having  given  the  narrative  to  the  public  as  I  received 
it  from  the  Spirit  Author,  I  must  leave  with  him  all  re- 
sponsibility' for  the  opinions  expressed  and  the  scenes  de- 
scribed. A.  FAKNESE. 
London,  1896. 


103 


Dedication  t>£  tbe  Hutbor. 

To  those  who  toil  still  in  the  mists  and  darkness  of 
uncertainty  which  veil  the  future  of  their  earthly  lives,  I 
dedicate  this  record  of  the  Wanderings  of  one  who  has 
passed  from  earth  life  into  the  hidden  mysteries  of  the 
Life  Beyond,  in  the  hope  that  through  my  experiences 
now  given  to  the  world,  some  may  he  induced  to  pause  in 
their  downward  career  and  think  ere  they  pass  from  the 
mortal  life,  as  I  did,  with  all  their  unrepented  sins  thick 
upon  them. 

It  is  to  those  of  my  brethren  who  are  treading  fast 
upon  the  downward  path,  that  I  would  fain  hope  to  speak, 
with  the  power  which  Truth  ever  has  over  those  who  do 
not  blindly  seek  to  shut  it  out;  for  if  the  after  conse- 
quences of  a  life  spent  in  dissipation  and  selfishness  are 
often  terrible  even  during  the  earth-life,  they  are  doubly 
so  in  the  Spirit  AVorld,  where  all  disguise  is  stripped  from 
the  soul,  and  it  stands  forth  in  all  the  naked  hideousness 
of  its  sins,  with  the  scars  of  the  spiritual  disease  contracted 
in  its  earthly  life  stamped  upon  its  spirit  form — never  to 
be  effaced  but  by  the  healing  power  of  sincere  repentance 
and  the  cleansing  waters  of  its  own  sorrowful  tears. 

I  now  ask  these  dwellers  upon  earth  to  believe  that  if 
these  weary  wanderers  of  the  other  life  can  return  to  warn 
their  brothers  yet  on  earth,  they  are  eager  to  do  so.  I 
would  have  them  to  understand  that  spirits  who  material- 
ize have  a  higher  mission  to  perform  than  even  the  solac- 
ing of  those  who  mourn  in  deep  affliction  for  the  beloved 
they  have  lost.  I  would  have  them  to  look  and  see  that 
now  even  at  the  eleventh  hour  of  man's  pride  and  sin, 


DEDICATION. 

these  spirit  wanderers  are  permitted  by  the  Great  Supreme 
to  go  back  and  tell  them  the  fate  of  all  who  outrage  the 
laws  of  God  and  man.  I  would  have  even  the  idle  and 
frivolous  to  pause  and  think  whether  Spiritualism  be  not 
something  higher,  holier,  nobler,  than  the  passing  of  an 
idle  hour  in  speculations  as  to  whether  there  are  occult 
forces  which  can  move  a  table  or  rap  out  the  Alphabet, 
and  whether  it  is  not  possible  that  these  feeble  raps  and 
apparently  unmeaning  tips  and  tilts  of  a  table  arc  but  the 
opening  doors  through  which  a  flood  of  light  is  being  let 
in  upon  the  dark  places  of  earth  and  of  the  Nether  World 
— faint  signs  that  those  who  have  gone  before  do  now  re- 
turn to  earth  to  warn  their  brethren. 

As  a  warrior  who  has  fought  and  conquered  I  look 
back  upon  the  scenes  of  those  battles  and  the  toils  through 
-which  I  have  passed,  and  I  feel  that  all  has  been  cheaply 
won — all  has  been  gained  for  which  I  hoped  and  strove, 
and  I  seek  now  but  to  point  out  the  Better  "Way  to  others 
who  are  yet  in  the  storm  and  stress  of  battle,  that  they  may 
use  the  invaluable  time  given  to  them  upon  earth  to  enter 
upon  and  follow  with  unfaltering  step  the  Shining  Path 
which  shall  lead  them  home  to  Eest  and  Peace  at  last. 

FRANCHEZZO. 


Zbe  ffmblieber's  preface. 


"A  Wanderer  in  the  Spirit  Lands"  is  a  remarkable  book, 
full  of  interest  throughout.  It  was  written  in  England 
by  Spirit  Franchezzo,  through  the  mediumship  of  A. 
Farnese.  We  obtained  Mr.  Farnese's  premission  to  re- 
publish it  in  this  country,  and  we  take  great  pleasure  in 
adding  it  to  our  list  of  valuable  premiums.  This  work  de- 
tails minutely  the  efforts  of  one  who  had  led  a  sinful,  self- 
ish life  on  earth,  to  redeem  himself  in  the  Spirit  realms. 
Every  Spiritualist  should  read  it.  It  portrays  in  vivid 
language  a  great  moral  lesson,  and  shows  the  baneful  ef- 
fects of  wrong-doing,  and  the  suffering  and  tribulation 
that  follow.  In  presenting  this  book  to  Spiritualists  we 
feel  that  we  are  enabling  them  to  become  familiar  with 
those  spirits  who  have  led  on  earth  a  selfish  or  licentious 
life,  and  whose  suffering  must  be  great  before  they  are 
able  to  see  the  light  that  betokens  a  happier  existence. 

The  controlling  spirit,  Franchezzo,  has  found  it  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  describe  the  spiritual  scenes  and  expe- 
riences through  which  he  passed,  in  the  language  common 
to  earth;  but  the  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  spirit 
realms  are  as  real  to  the  spirit  as  anything  on  earth  is  to 
the  mortal,  hence  descriptions  in  many  cases  when  re- 
ferring to  anything  in  spirit  life,  must  necessarily  be  some- 
what from  a  material  standpoint.  We  are  sure  that  this 
book  will  be  read  with  deep  interest  and  lasting  benefit. 
It  is  certainly  a  very  valuable  acquisition  to  our  list  of 
premiums.  J.  R.  FRANCIS. 


CONTENTS. 


page 
Preface  by  Transcriber. 
Dedication  by  Author. 

Part  I.    Days  of  Darkness. 

CHAPTER  L— My  Death 1 

CHAPTER  II.— Despair 6 

CHAPTER  III.— Hope— Wanderings  on  the  Earth 

Plane — A  Door  of  Spiritual  Sight 11 

CHAPTER  IV.— The  Brotherhood  of  Hope 25 

CHAPTER  V.— Spirits  of  the  Earth  Plane 33 

CHAPTER  VI.— Twilight  Lands— Love's  Gifts--The 
Valley  of  Selfishness — The  Country  of 
Unrest — The  Miser's  Land — The  Gam- 
bler's Land 39 

CHAPTER  VIL— The  Story  of  Raoul 47 

CHAPTER  VIII.— Temptation 52 

CHAPTER  IX.— The  Frozen  Land— The  Caverns  of 

Slumber 5G 

CHAPTER  X.— My  Home  in  the  Twilight  Lands- 
Communion  Between  the  Living  and  the 

Dead G3 

CHAPTER  XL— Ahrinziman 71 

CHAPTER  XII.— My  Second  Death 75 

Part  II.    The  Dawn  of  Light. 

CHAPTER  XIII.— Welcome  in  the  Land  of  Dawn— 

My  New  Home  There 79 

CHAPTER  XIV.— A  Father's  Love 86 

CHAPTER  XV.— A  New  Expedition  Proposed. ...  88 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE  XYL— Clairvoyance  —  The      Journey 

Begun 92 

CHAPTEE  XVII.— The  Astral  Plane  and  Its  Inhab- 
itants— Spooks,  Elves,  Vampires,  etc. . . .  97 

CHAPTER  XVIII.— The  Approach  to  Hell 116 

Part  III.    The  Kingdoms  of  Hell. 

CHAPTEE  XIX.— Through  the  Wall  of  Fire 121 

CHAPTEE  XX.— The  Imperial  City 129 

CHAPTER  XXL— The  Fires  of  Hell— A  Vengeful 
Spirit — Pirates — The  Sea  of  Foul  Mud — 
The  Mountains  of  Selfish  Oppression — 
The  Forest   of  Desolation — Messages   of 

Love 137 

CHAPTEE  XXIL— Amusements  in  a  Great  City  of 

Hell — Words  of  Caution 163 

CHAPTEE  XXIIL— The  Palace  of  My  Ancestors- 
False  Brothers  Baffled ITT 

CHAPTEE  XXIV.— The  Story  of  Benedetto— Plot- 
ters Again  Baffled 187 

CHAPTEE  XXV*:— A  Pitched  Battle  in  Hell 198 

CHAPTEE  XXVL— Farewell  to  the  Dark  Land. . .  .204 

Part  IV.    Through  the  Gates  of  Gold. 

CHAPTEE  XXVIL— Welcome  on  Our  Eeturn— A 
Magic    Mirror — Work    in    the    Cities    of 
Earth— The  Land  of  Eemorse— The  Val- 
ley of  Phantom  Mists — A  Home  of  Eest.  .211 
CHAPTEE  XXVIII.— My  Home  and  Work  in  the 

Morning  Land 230 

CHAPTER  XXIX.— The  Formation  of  Planets.  . .  .234 

CHAPTER  XXX.— Materialization  of  Spirits 213 

CHAPTEE  XXXI.— Why  the  Spheres  Are  Invisible 

— Spirit  Photographs 252 

CHAPTEE  XXXII.— Through  the  Gates  of  Gold— 
My  Mother — My  Home  in  the  Land  of 
Bright  Day — I  Am  Joined  by  Benedetto.  .257 
CHAPTEE  XXXIII.—  Mv  Vision  of  the  Spheres.. 269 
CHAPTEE  XXXIV.— Conclusion 278 


PART   I. 


2>a\>s  of  ^Darkness* 


UNi 


PART   I. 

Ba\>$  of  Bareness. 


CHAPTER  I. 

I  have  been  a  Wanderer  through  a  far  country,  in 
those  lands  that  have  no  name — no  place — for  you  of 
earth,  and  I  would  set  down  as  briefly  as  I  can  my  wander- 
ings, that  those  whose  feet  are  pointed  to  that  bourn  may 
know  what  may  in  their  turn  await  them. 

On  earth  and  in  my  life  of  earth  I  lived  as  those  do 
who  seek  only  how  the  highest  point  of  self  gratification 
can  be  reached.  If  I  was  not  unkind  to  some — if  I  was 
indulgent  to  those  I  loved — yet  it  was  ever  with  the  feel- 
ing that  they  in  return  must  minister  to  my  gratification 
— that  from  them  I  might  purchase  by  my  gifts  and  my 
affection  the  love  and  homage  which  was  as  my  life  to  me. 

I  was  talented,  highly  gifted  both  in  mind  and  per- 
son, and  from  my  earliest  years  the  praise  of  others  was 
ever  given  to  me,  and  was  ever  my  sweetest  incense.  No 
thought  ever  came  to  me  of  that  all  self-sacrificing  love 
which  can  sink  itself  so  completely  in  the  love  for  others 
that  there  is  no  thought,  no  hope  of  happiness,  but  in  se- 
curing the  happiness  of  the  beloved  ones.  In  all  my 
life,  and  amongst  all  those  women  whom  I  loved  (as  men 
of  earth  too  often  miscall  that  which  is  but  a  passion  too 
low  and  base  to  be  dignified  by  the  name  of  love),  amongst 
all  those  women  who  from  time  to  time  captivated  my 
fancy,  there  was  not  one  who  ever  appealed  to  my  higher 
nature  sufficiently  to  make  me  feel  this  was  true  love,  this 


2        A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

the  ideal  for  which  in  secret  I  sighed.  In  everyone  I 
•'oiukI  something  to  disappoint  me.  They  loved  me  as  I 
loved  them — no  more,  no  less.  The  passion  I  gave  won 
but  its  counterpart  from  them,  and  thus  I  passed  on  un- 
satisfied, longing  for  I  knew  not  what. 

Mistakes  I  made — ah!  how  many.  Sins  I  committed 
— not  a  few;  yet  the  world  was  often  at  my  feet  to  praise 
me  and  call  me  good,  and  noble,  and  gifted.  I  was  feted 
— caressed — the  spoilt  darling  of  the  dames  of  fashion.  I 
had  but  to  woo  to  win,  and  when  I  won  all  turned  to  bit- 
ter ashes  in  my  teeth.  And  then  there  came  a  time  upon 
which  I  shall  not  dwell,  when  I  made  the  most  fatal  mis- 
take of  all  and  spoilt  two  lives  where  I  had  wrecked  but 
one  before.  It  was  not  a  golden  flowery  wreath  of  roses 
that  I  wore,  but  a  bitter  chain — fetters  as  of  iron  that 
K galled  and  bruised  me  till  at  last  I  snapped  them  asunder 
and  walked  forth  free.  Free? — ah,  me!  Never  again 
should  I  be  free,  for  never  for  one  moment  can  our  past 
errors  and  mistakes  cease  to  dog  our  footsteps  and  clog 
our  wings  while  we  live — aye,  and  after  the  life  of  the 
body  is  ended— till  one  by  one  we  have  atoned  for  them, 
and  thus  blotted  them  from  our  past. 

And  then  it  was — when  I  deemed  myself  secure  from 
all  love — when  I  thought  I  had  learned  all  that  love  could 
teach — knew  all  that  woman  had  to  give — that  I  met  one 
woman.  Ah!  what  shall  I  call  her?  She  was  more  than 
mortal  woman  in  my  eyes,  and  I  called  her  "The  Good 
Angel  of  My  Life,"  and  from  the  first  moment  that  I  knew 
her  I  bowed  clown  at  her  feet  and  gave  her  all  the  love 
of  my  sovd — of  my  higher  self — a  love  that  was  poor  and 
selfish  when  compared  to  what  it  should  have  been,  but  it 
wras  all  I  had  to  give,  and  I  gave  it  all.  For  the  first  time 
in  my  life  I  thought  of  another  more  than  of  myself,  and 
though  I  could  not  rise  to  the  pure  thoughts,  the  bright 
fancies  that  filled  her  soul,  I  thank  God  I  never  yielded  to 
the  temptation  to  drag  her  down  to  me. 

And  so  time  went  on — I  sunned  myself  in  her  sweet 
presence — I  grew  in  holy  thoughts  that  I  deemed  had  left 
me  for  ever — I  dreamed  sweet  dreams  in  which  I  was 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.        3 

freed  from  those  chains  to  my  past  that  held  me  so  cru- 
elly, so  hardly,  now  when  I  sought  for  better  things.  And 
from  my  dreams  I  ever  woke  to  the  fear  that  another 
might  win  her  from  me — and  to  the  knowledge  that  I, 
alas!  had  not  the  right  to  say  one  word  to  hold  her  back. 
Ah,  me!  The  bitterness  and  the  suffering  of  those  days! 
I  knew  it  was  myself  alone  who  had  built  that  wall  be- 
tween us.  I  felt  that  I  was  not  fit  to  touch  her,  soiled  as 
I  was  in  the  world's  ways.  How  could  I  dare  to  take  that 
innocent,  pure  life  and  link  it  to  my  own?  At  times  hope 
would  whisper  it  might  be  so,  but  reason  said  ever,  "No!" 
And  though  she  was  so  kind,  so  tender  to  me  that  I  read 
the  innocent  secret  of  her  love,  I  knew — I  felt — that  on 
earth  she  never  would  be  mine.  Her  purity  and  her 
truth  raised  between  us  a  barrier  I  could  never  pass.  I 
tried  to  leave  her.  In  vain!  As  a  magnet  is  drawn  to 
the  pole,  so  was  I  ever  drawn  back  to  her,  till  at  last  I 
struggled  no  more.  I  strove  only  to  enjoy  the  happiness 
that  her  presence  gave — happy  that  at  least  the  pleasure 
and  the  sunshine  of  her  presence  was  not  denied  me. 

And  then!  Ah!  then  there  came  for  me  an  awful,  an 
unexpected  day,  when  with  no  warning,  no  sign  to  awaken 
me  to  my  positional  was  suddenly  snatched  from  life  and 
plunged  into  that  gulf,  that  death  of  the  body  which 
awaits  us  all. 

And  I  knew  not  that  I  had  died.  I  passed  from 
some  hours  of  suffering  and  agony  into  sleep — deep, 
dreamless  sleep — and  when  I  awoke  it  was  to  find  myself 
alone  and  in  total  darkness.  I  could  rise;  I  could  move; 
surely  I  was  better.  But  where  was  I?  Why  this  dark- 
ness? Why  was  no  light  left  with  me?  I  arose  and 
groped  as  one  does  in  a  dark  room,  but  I  could  find  no 
light,  hear  no  sound.  There  was  nothing  but  the  still- 
ness, the  darkness  of  death  around  me. 

Then  I  thought  I  would  walk  forward  and  find  the 
door.  I  could  move,  though  slowly  and  feebly,  and  I 
groped  on — for  how  long  I  know  not.  It  seemed  hours, 
for  in  my  growing  horror  and  dismay  I  felt  I  must  find 
some  one — some  way  out  of  this  place;  and  to  my  despair 


4        A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

I  seemed  never  lo  tind  any  door,  any  wall,  anything.  All 
seemed  space  and  darkness  round  me. 

Overcome  at  last,  I  called  out  aloud!  I  shrieked,  and 
no  voice  answered  me.  Then  again  and  again  I  called, 
and  still  the  silence;  still  no  echo,  even  from  my  own 
voice,  came  back  to  cheer  me.  I  bethought  me  of  her  I 
loved,  but  something  made  me  shrink  from  uttering  her 
name  there.  Then  I  thought  of  all  the  friends  I  had 
known,  and  I  called  on  them,  but  none  answered  me. 
Was  I  in  prison?  No.  A  prison  has  walls  and  this  place 
had  none.  Was  I  mad?  Delirious?  What?  I  could 
feel  myself,  my  body.  It  was  the  same.  Surely  the 
same?  No.  There  was  some  change  in  me.  I  could  not 
tell  what,  but  I  felt  as  though  I  was  shrunken  and  de- 
formed? My  features,  when  I  passed  my  hand  over 
them,  seemed  larger,  coarser,  distorted  surely?  Oh,  for  a 
light!  Oh,  for  anything  to  tell  me  even  the  worst  that 
could  be  told!  Would  no  one  come?  Was  I  quite  alone? 
And  she,  my  angel  of  light,  oh!  where  was  she?  Before 
my  sleep  she  had  been  with  me — where  was  she  now? 
Something  seemed  to  snap  in  my  brain  and  in  my  throat 
and  I  called  wildly  to  her  by  name,  to  come  to  me,  if  but 
for  once  more.  I  felt  a  terrible  sense  as  if  I  had  lost  her, 
and  I  called  and  called  to  her  wildly;  and  for  the  first  time 
my  voice  had  a  sound  and  rang  back  to  me  through  that 
awful  darkness. 

Before  me,  far,  far  away,  came  a  tiny  speck  of  light 
like  a  star  that  grew  and  grew  and  came  nearer  and  nearer 
till  at  last  it  appeared  before  me  as  a  large  ball  of  light,  in 
shape  like  a  star,  and  in  the  star  I  saw  my  beloved.  Her 
eyes  were  closed  as  of  one  in  sleep,  but  her  arms  were  held 
out  to  me  and  her  gentle  voice  said  in  those  tones  I  knew 
so  well,  "Oh!  my  love,  my  love,  where  are  you  now;  I  can- 
not see  you,  I  only  hear  your  voice;  I  only  hear  you  call  to 
me,  and  my  soul  answers  to  yours." 

I  tried  to  rush  to  her,  but  I  could  not.  Some  invisible 
force  held  me  back,  and  around  her  seemed  a  ring  I  could 
not  pass  through.  In  an  agony  I  sank  to  the  ground, 
calling  upon  her  to  leave  me  no  more.     Then  she  seemed 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.        5 

to  grow  unconscious;  her  head  sank  upon  her  breast,  and 
I  saw  her  float  away  from  me  as  though  some  strong  arms 
had  borne  her.  1  sought  to  rise  and  follow  her,  but 
could  not.  It  was  as  if  a  great  chain  held  me  fast,  and 
after  some  fruitless  struggles  I  sank  upon  the  ground  in 
unconsciousness. 

When  I  awoke  again  I  was  overjoyed  to  see  that  my 
beloved  one  had  returned  to  me.  She  was  standing  near, 
looking  this  time  as  I  had  seen  her  on  earth,  but  pale  and 
sad  and  all  dressed  in  black.  The  star  was  gone,  and  all 
around  was  darkness;  yet  not  utter  darkness,  since  around 
her  was  a  pale,  faint  glow  of  light  by  which  I  could  see 
she  carried  flowers — white  flowers — in  her  hands.  She 
stooped  over  a  long  low  mound  of  fresh  earth.  I  drew 
nearer  and  nearer  and  saw  that  she  was  silently  weeping 
as  she  laid  down  the  flowers  on  that  low  mound.  Her 
voice  murmured  softly,  "Oh,  my  love!  Oh.  my  love,  will 
you  never  come  back  to  me?  Can  you  be  indeed  dead, 
and  gone  where  my  love  cannot  follow  you?  Where  you 
can  hear  my  voice  no  more?  My  love!  Oh,  my  dear 
love!" 

She  was  kneeling  down  now.  and  I  drew  near,  very 
near,  though  I  could  not  touch  her,  and  as  I  knelt  down 
I,  too,  looked  at  that  long  low  mound.  A  shock  of  horror 
passed  over  me,  for  I  knew  now,  at  last,  that  I  was  dead, 
and  this  was  my  own  grave. 


A  WANDEKEK  IN  THE  SPIKIT  LAXDS. 


CHAPTER  II. 

"Dead!  Dead!"'  I  wildly  cried.  "Oh,  no,  surely  no! 
For  the  dead  feel  nothing  more;  they  turn  to  dust;  they 
moulder  to  decay,  and  all  is  gone,  ail  is  lost  to  them;  they 
have  no  more  consciousness  of  anything,  unless,  indeed, 
my  boasted  philosophy  of  life  has  been  ail  wrong,  all  false, 
and  the  soul  of  the  dead  still  lives  even  though  the  body 
decays." 

The  priests  of  my  own  church  had  taught  me  so,  but 
I  had  scorned  them  as  fools,  blind  and  knavish,  who  for 
their  own  ends  taught  that  men  lived  again  and  could 
only  get  to  heaven  through  a  gate,  of  which  they  held  the 
keys,  keys  that  turned  only  for  gold  and  at  the  bidding  of 
those  who  were  paid  to  say  masses  for  the  departed  soul — 
priests  who  made  dupes  of  silly  frightened  women  and 
weak-minded  men  who,  yielding  to  the  terror  inspired  by 
their  awful  tales  of  hell  and  purgatory,  gave  themselves, 
bodies  and  souls,  to  purchase  the  illusive  privilege  they 
promised.  I  would  have  none  of  them.  My  knowledge 
of  these  priests  and  the  inner  hidden  lives  of  many  of 
them  had  been  too  great  for  me  to  listen  to  their  idle  tales, 
their  empty  promises  of  a  pardon  they  could  not  give,  and 
I  had  said  I  would  face  death  when  it  came,  with  the 
courage  of  those  who  know  only  that  for  them  it  must 
mean  total  extinction;  for  if  these  priests  were  wrong, 
who  was  right?  Who  could  tell  us  anything  of  the 
future,  or  if  there  were  any  God  at  all?  Not  the  living, 
for  they  but  theorize  and  guess,  and  not  the  dead,  for 
none  came  back  from  them  to  tell;  and  now  I  stood  beside 
this  grave — my  own  grave — and  heard  my  beloved  call 
me  dead  and  strew  flowers  upon  it. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.        7 

As  I  looked  the  solid  mound  grew  transparent  before 
my  eyes,  and  I  saw  down  to  the  coffin  with  my  own  name 
and  the  date  of  my  death  upon  it;  and  through  the  coffin 
I  saw  the  white  still  form  I  knew  as  myself  lying  within. 
I  sawto  my  horror  that  this  body  had  already  begun  to 
decay  and  become  a  loathsome  thing  to  look  upon.  Its 
beauty  was  gone,  its  features  soon  none  would  recognize; 
and  I  stood  there,  conscious,  looking  down  upon  it  and 
then  at  myself.  I  felt  each  limb,  traced  out  with  my 
hands  each  familiar  feature  of  my  face,  and  knew  I  was 
dead,  and  yet  I  lived.  If  this  were  death,  then  those 
priests  must  have  been  right  after  all.  The  dead  lived — 
but  where?  In  what  state?  Was  this  darkness  hell? 
For  me  they  would  have  found  no  other  place.  I  was  so 
lost,  so  beyond  the  pale  of  their  church  that  for  me  they 
would  not  have  found  a  place  even  in  purgatory. 

I  had  cast  off  all  ties  to  their  church.  I  had  so 
scorned  it,  deeming  that  a  church  which  knew  of,  and  yet 
tolerated,  the  shameful  and  ambitious  lives  of  many  of  its 
most  honored  dignitaries  had  no  claim  to  call  itself  a 
spiritual  guide  for  anyone.  There  were  good  men  in  the 
church;  true,  but  there  was  also  this  mass  of  shameless 
evil  ones  whose  lives  were  common  talk,  common  matter 
of  ridicule;  yet  the  church  that  claimed  to  be  the  example 
to  all  men  and  to  hold  all  truth,  did  not  cast  out  these 
men  of  disgraceful  lives.  No,  she  advanced  them  to  yet 
higher  posts  of  honor.  None  who  have  lived  in  my  native 
land  and  seen  the  terrible  abuses  of  power  in  her  church 
will  wonder  that  a  nation  should  rise  and  seek  to  cast  off 
such  a  yoke.  Those  who  can  recall  the  social  and  political 
condition  of  Italy  in  the  earlier  half  of  this  century,  and 
the  part  the  church  of  Rome  played  in  helping  the 
oppressor  to  rivet  the  fetters  with  which  she  was  bound, 
and  who  know  how  her  domestic  life  was  honeycombed 
with  spies — priests  as  well  as  laymen — till  a  man  feared  to 
whisper  his  true  sentiments  to  his  nearest  and  dearest  lest 
she  should  betray  him  to  the  priest  and  he  again  to  the 
government — how  the  dungeons  were  crowded  with  un- 
happy men,  yea,  even  with  mere  lads  guilty  of  no  crime 


8        A  WA \  DEREK  IN  Til E  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

save  love  of  their  native  land  and  hatred  of  its  oppres- 
sors— those,  I  say,  who  know  all  this  will  not  wonder  at 
the  fierce  indignation  and  burning  passion  which  smoul- 
dered in  the  breast  of  Italia's  sons,  and  burst  at  last  into 
a  conflagration  which  consumed  man's  faith  in  Go.d  and 
in  his  so-called  Vicar  upon  earth,  and  like  a  mountain 
torrent  that  has  buret  its  bounds,  swept  away  men's  hopes 
of  immortality,  if  only  through  submission  to  the  decrees 
of  the  church  it  was  to  be  obtained.  Such,  then,  had 
been  my  attitude  of  revolt  and  scorn  towards  the  church 
in  which  I  had  been  baptized,  and  that  church  could  have 
no  place  within  her  pale  for  me.  If  her  anathemas  could 
send  a  soul  to  hell  surely  I  must  be  there. 

And  yet  as  I  thought  thus  I  looked  again  upon  my 
beloved,  and  I  thought  she  could  never  have  come  to  hell 
even  to  look  for  me.  She  seemed  mortal  enough,  and  if 
she  knelt  by  my  grave  surely  I  must  be  still  upon  earth. 
Did  the  dead  then  never  leave  the  earth  at  all,  but  hover 
near  the  scenes  of  their  earthly  lives?  With  such  and 
many  similar  thoughts  crowding  through  my  brain  I 
strove  to  get  nearer  to  her  I  so  loved,  but  found  I  could 
not.  An  invisible  barrier  seemed  to  surround  her  and 
keep  me  back.  I  could  move  on  either  side  of  her  as  I 
pleased — nearer  or  farther — but  her  I  could  not  touch. 
Vain  were  all  my  efforts.  Then  I  spoke;  I  called  to  her 
by  name.  I  told  her  that  I  was  there;  that  I  was  still 
conscious,  still  the  same,  though  I  was  dead;  and  she 
never  seemed  to  hear — she  never  saw  me.  She  still  wept 
sadly  and  silently;  still  tenderly  touched  the  flowers, 
murmuring  to  herself  that  I  had  so  loved  flowers,  surely 
I  would  know  that  she  had  put  them  there  for  me.  Again 
and  again  I  spoke  to  her  as  loudly  as  I  could,  but  she 
heard  me  not.  She  was  deaf  to  my  voice.  She  only 
moved  uneasily  and  passed  her  hand  over  her  head  as  one 
in  a  dream,  and  then  slowly  and  sadly  she  went  away. 

I  strove  with  all  my  might  to  follow  her.  In  vain. 
I  could  go  but  a  few  yards  from  the  grave  and  my  earthly 
body,  and  then  I  saw  why.  A  chain  as  of  dark  silk 
thread — it  seemed  no  thicker  than  a  spider's  web — held 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.        9 

me  to  my  body;  no  power  of  mine  could  break  it;  as  I 
moved  it  stretched  like  elastic,  but  always  drew  me  back 
again.  Worst  of  all  I  began  now  to  be  conscious  of  feeling 
the  corruption  of  that  decaying  body  affecting  my  spirit, 
as  a  limb  that  has  become  poisoned  affects  with  suffering 
the  whole  body  on  earth,  and  a  fresh  horror  filled  my  soul. 

Then  a  voice  as  of  some  majestic  being  spoke  to  me 
in  the  darkness,  and  said:  "You  loved  that  body  more 
than  your  soul.  Watch  it  now  as  it  turns  to  dust  and 
know  what  it  was  that  you  so  worshiped,  and  ministered 
and  clung  to.  Know  how  perishable  it  was,  howr  vile  it 
has  become,  and  look  upon  your  spirit  body  and  see  how 
you  have  starved  and  cramped  and  neglected  it  for  the 
sake  of  the  enjoyments  of  the  earthly  body.  Behold  how 
poor  and  repulsive  and  deformed  your  earthly  life  has 
made  your  soul,  which  is  immortal  and  divine  and  to 
endure  forever." 

And  I  looked  and  beheld  myself.  As  in  a  mirror 
held  up  before  me,  I  saw  myself.  Oh,  horror!  It  was 
beyond  doubt  myself,  but,  oh!  so  awfully  changed,  so  vile, 
so  full  of  baseness  did  I  appear;  so  repulsive  in  every  fea- 
ture— even  my  figure  was  deformed — I  shrank  back  in 
horror  at  my  appearance,  and  prayed  that  the  earth  might 
open  before  my  feet  and  hide  me  from  all  eyes  for  ever- 
more. Ah!  never  again  would  I  call  upon  my  love,  never 
more  desire  that  she  should  see  me.  Better,  far  better, 
that  she  should  think  of  me  as  dead  and  gone  from  her 
forever;  better  that  she  should  have  only  the  memory  of 
me  as  I  had  been  in  earthly  life  than  ever  know  how  awful 
was  the  change,  how  horrible  a  thing  was  my  real  self. 

Alas!  Alas!  My  despair,  my  anguish  was  extreme, 
and  I  called  out  wildly  and  struck  myself  and  tore  my  hair 
in  wild  and  passionate  horror  of  myself,  and  then  my 
passion  exhausted  me  and  I  sank  senseless  and  uncon- 
scious of  all  once  more. 

Again  I  waked,  and  again  it  was  the  presence  of  my 
love  that  awaked  me.  She  had  brought  more  flowers,  and 
she  murmured  more  soft  tender  thoughts  of  me  as.  she 


10      A  WANDEEEB  liN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

laid  them  on  my  grave.  But  I  did  not  seek  now  to  make 
her  see  me.  Mo,  1  shrank  back  and  sought  to  hide  myself, 
and  my  heart  grew  hard  even  to  her,  and  I  said:  "Bather 
let  her  weep  for  the  one  who  has  gone  than  know  that  he 
still  lives,"  so  1  let  her  go.  And  as  soon  as  she  was  gone, 
1  called  frantically  to  her  to  come  back,  to  come  back  in 
any  way,  to  any  knowledge  of  my  awi'ul  position,  rather 
than  leave  me  in  that  place  to  see  her  no  more.  She  did 
not  hear,  but  she  felt  my  call,  and  afar  off  1  saw  her  stop 
and  ball'  turn  round  as  though  to  return,  then  she  passed 
on  again  and  left  me.  Twice,  three  times  she  came  again, 
and  each  time  when  she  came  I  felt  the  same  shrinking 
from  approaching  her,  and  each  time  when  she  left  1  felt 
the  same  wild  longing  to  bring  her  back  and  keep  her  near 
me.  But  I  called  to  her  no  more  for  1  knew  the  dead  call 
in  vain,  the  living  hear  them  not.  And  to  all  the  world 
I  was  dead,  and  only  to  myself  and  to  my  awful  fate  was 
I  alive.  Ah!  now  I  knew  death  was  no  endless  sleep,  no 
calm  oblivion.  Better,  far  better  had  it  been  so,  and  in 
my  despair  I  prayed  that  this  total  oblivion  might  be 
granted  to  me,  and  as  I  prayed  I  knew  it  never  could,  for 
man  is  an  immortal  soul,  and  for  good  or  evil,  weal  or  woe, 
lives  on  eternally.  His  earthly  form  decays  and  turns  to 
dust,  but  the  spirit,  which  is  the  true  man,  knows  no 
decay,  no  oblivion. 

Each  day — for  I  felt  that  days  were  passing  over 
me — my  mind  awoke  more  and  more,  and  I  saw  clearer 
and  clearer  the  events  of  my  life  pass  in  a  long  procession 
before  me — dim  at  first,  then  by  degrees  growing  stronger 
and  clearer,  and  I  bowed  my  head  in  anguish,  helpless, 
hopeless  anguish,  for  I  felt  it  must  be  too  late  now  to 
undo  one  single  act. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      11 


CHAPTER  III. 

I  know  not  how  long  this  lasted;  it  seemed  a  long, 
long  time  to  me.  I  was  sitting  wrapped  still  in  my 
despair  when  I  heard  a  voice  gentle  and  soft  calling  to 
me— the  voice  of  my  beloved — and  I  felt  compelled  to  rise 
and  follow  that  voice  till  it  should  lead  me  to  her;  and  as 
I  rose  to  go  the  thread  which  had  so  bound  me  seemed  to 
stretch  and  stretch  till  I  scarce  felt  its  pressure,  and  I  was 
drawn  on  and  on  till  at  last  I  found  myself  in  a  room 
which,  I  could  dimly  see,  even  in  the  darkness  that  always 
surrounded  me,  was  familiar  to  my  eyes.  It  was  the  home 
of  my  beloved  one,  and  in  that  room  I  had  passed,  ah! 
how  many  peaceful  happy  hours  in  that  time  which 
seemed  now  separated  from  me  by  so  wide  and  awful  a 
gulf.  She  sat  at  a  little  table  with  a  sheet  of  paper  before 
her  and  a  pencil  in  her  hand.  She  kept  repeating  my 
name  and  saying:  "Dearest  of  friends,  if  the  dead  ever 
return,  come  back  to  me,  and  try  if  you  can  make  me  write 
a  few  words  from  you,  even  'yes'  or  'no'  in  answer  to  my 
questions." 

For  the  first  time  since  I  had  died  I  saw  her  with  a 
faint  smile  upon  her  lips  and  a  look  of  hope  and  expecta- 
tion in  those  clear  eyes  that  were  so  heavy  with  weeping 
for  me.  The  dear  face  looked  so  pale  and  sad  with  her 
grief  and  I  felt — ah!  how  I  felt — the  sweetness  of  the  love 
she  had  given  me,  and  which  now  less  than  ever  dare  I 
hope  to  claim. 

Then  I  saw  three  other  forms  beside  her,  but  thev  I 
knew  were  spirits,  yet  how  unlike  myself.  These  spirits 
were  bright,  radiant,  so  that  I  could  not  bear  to  look  at 


12      A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

them;  the  sight  seemed  to  scorch  my  eyes  as  with  a  fire, 
One  was  a  man,  tall,  calm,  dignified-looking,  who  bent 
over  her  to  protect  her  as  her  guardian  angel  might. 
Beside  him  stood  two  fair  young  men  whom  I  knew  at 
once  to  be  those  brothers  whom  she  had  so  often  spoken 
of  to  me.  They  had  died  when  youth  with  all  its  pleas- 
ures was  before  them,  and  their  memories  were  shrined  in 
her  heart  as  those  who  were  now  angels.  I  shrank  back, 
for  I  felt  they  saw  me,  and  I  sought  to  cover  my  disfigured 
face  and  form  with  the  dark  mantle  which  I  wore.  Then 
my  pride  awoke,  and  I  said:  "Has  not  she  herself  called 
me?  I  have  come,  and  shall  not  she  be  the  arbiter  of  my 
destiny?  Is  it  so  irrevocable  that  nothing  I  can  do,  no 
sorrow,  no  repentance  however  deep,  no  deeds  however 
great,  no  work  however  hard,  can  reverse  it?  Is  there 
indeed  no  hope  beyond  the  grave?" 

And  a  voice,  the  voice  I  had  heard  before  at  my  own 
grave,  answered  me:  "Son  of  grief,  is  there  no  hope  on 
earth  for  those  who  sin?  Does  not  even  man  forgive  the 
sinner  who  has  wronged  him  if  the  sin  be  repented  of  and 
pardon  sought?  And  shall  God  be  less  merciful,  less 
just?  Hast  thou  repentance  even  now?  Search  thine 
own  heart  and  see  whether  it  is  for  thyself  or  for  those 
thou  hast  wronged  that  thou  art  sorry?" 

And  I  knew  as  he  spoke  that  I  did  not  truly  repent. 
I  only  suffered.  I  only  loved  and  longed.  Then  again 
my  beloved  spoke  and  asked  me:  "If  I  were  there  and 
could  hear  her,  to  try  and  write  one  word  through  her 
hand  that  she  might  know  I  still  lived,  still  thought 
of  her." 

My  heart  seemed  to  rise  into  my  throat  and  choke  me, 
and  I  drew  near  to  try  if  I  could  move  her  hand,  could 
touch  it  even.  But  the  tall  spirit  came  between  us.  and  I 
was  forced  to  draw  back.  Then  he  spoke  and  said:  "Give 
your  words  to  me  and  I  will  cause  her  hand  to  write  them 
down  for  you.  I  will  do  this  for  her  sake,  and  because  of 
the  love  she  has  for  you." 

A  great  wave  of  joy  swept  over  me  at  his  words,  and 
I  would  have  taken  his  hand  and  kissed  it  but  could  not. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       13 

My  hand  seemed  scorched  by  his  brightness  ere  I  could 
touch  him,  and  I  bowed  myself  before  him  for  I  thought 
he  must  be  one  of  the  angels. 

My  beloved  spoke  once  more  and  said,  "Are  you  here, 
dearest  friend?" 

I  answered,  "Yes,"  and  then  I  saw  the  spirit  put  his 
hand  on  her,  and  when  he  did  so  her  hand  wrote  the  word 
"yes*  Slowly  and  unsteadily  it  moved,  like  a  child's 
learning  to  write.  Ah!  how  she  smiled,  and  again  she 
asked  me  a  question,  and  as  before  her  own  hand  traced 
out  my  answer.  She  asked  me  if  there  were  anything  she 
could  do  for  me,  any  wish  of  mine  that  she  could  help  me 
to  carry  out?  I  said:  "No!  not  now.  I  would  go  away 
now  and  torment  her  no  more  with  my  presence.  I  would 
let  her  forget  me  now." 

My  heart  was  so  sore  as  I  spoke,  so  bitter;  and,  ah! 
how  sweet  to  me  was  her  reply,  how  it  touched  my  soul  to 
hear  her  say:  "Do  not  say  that  to  me,  for  I  would  ever  be 
your  truest,  dearest  friend,  as  I  was  in  the  past,  and  since 
you  died  my  one  thought  has  been  to  find  you  and  to 
speak  with  you  again." 

And  I  answered,  I  called  out  to  her,  "It  has  been  my 
only  wish  also." 

She  then  asked  if  I  would  come  again,  and  I  said, 
"Yes!"  For  where  would  I  not  have  gone  for  her?  What 
would  I  not  have  done?  Then  the  bright  spirit  said  she 
must  write  no  more  that  night.  He  made  her  hand  write 
that  also  and  said  she  should  go  to  rest. 

I  felt  myself  now  drawn  away  once  more  back  to  my 
grave  and  to  my  earthly  body  in  that  dark  churchyard; 
but  not  to  the  same  hopeless  sense  of  misery.  In  spite  of 
everything  a  spark  of  hope  had  risen  in  my  heart  and  I 
knew  I  should  see  and  speak  with  her  again. 

But  now  I  found  I  was  not  alone  there.  Those  two 
spirits  who  were  her  brothers  had  followed  me,  and  now 
spoke.  I  shall  not  state  all  they  said.  Suffice  it  to  say 
they  pointed  out  to  me  how  wide  was  now  the  gulf  be- 
tween their  sister  and  myself,  and  asked  me  if  I  desired  to 
shadow  all  her  young  life  with  my  dark  presence.     If  I 


U      A  WAXDEKKK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

left  her  now,  she  would,  in  time,  forget  me,  except  as  one 
who  had  been  a  dear  friend  to  her.  She  could  always 
think  tenderly  of  my  memory,  and  surely  if  I  loved  her 
truly  1  would  not  wish  to  make  all  her  young  life  lonely 
and  desolate  lor  my  sake. 

1  replied  that  I  loved  her,  and  could  never  bear  to 
leave  her,  never  bear  to  think  of  any  other,  loving  her  as 
1  had  done. 

Then  they  spoke  of  myself  and  my  past,  and  asked  if 
I  dared  to  think  of  linking  myself  with  her  pure  life,  even 
in  the  misty  fashion  in  which  I  still  hoped  to  do?  How 
could  I  hope  that  when  she  died  I  should  meet  her?  She 
belonged  to  a  bright  sphere  to  which  I  could  not  hope  for 
a  long  time  to  rise,  and  would  it  not  be  better  for  her,  and 
nobler,  more  truly  loving  of  me,  to  leave  her  to  forget  me 
and  to  find  what  happiness  in  life  could  yet  be  given  to 
her,  rather  than  seek  to  keep  alive  a  love  that  could  only 
bring  her  sorrow? 

I  said  faintly  I  thought  she  loved  me.  They  said: 
"Yes,  she  loves  you  as  she  herself  has  idealized  your  image 
in  her  mind,  and  as  she  in  her  innocence  has  painted  your 
picture.  Do  you  think  if  she  knew  all  your  story  she 
would  love  you?  Would  she  not  shrink  back  in  horror 
from  you?  Tell  her  the  truth,  give  her  the  choice  of 
freedom  from  your  presence,  and  you  will  have  acted  a 
nobler  part  and  shown  a  truer  love  than  in  deceiving  her 
and  seeking  to  tie  her  to  a  being  like  yourself.  If  you 
truly  love  her,  think  of  her  and  her  happiness,  and  what 
will  bring  it — not  of  yourself  alone." 

Then  the  hope  within  me  died  out,  and  I  bowed  my 
head  to  the  dust  in  shame  and  agony,  for  I  knew  that  I 
was  vile  and  in  no  way  fit  for  her,  and  I  saw  as  in  a  glass 
what  her  life  might  still  be  freed  from  mine.  She  might 
know  happiness  yet  with  another  more  worthy  than  I  had 
been,  while  with  my  love  I  would  only  drag  her  down  into 
sadness  with  me.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  put  the 
happiness  of  another  before  my  own,  and  because  I  so 
loved  her  and  would  have  had  her  happy,  I  said  to  them : 
''Let  it  be  so,  then.     Tell  her  the  truth,  and  let  her  say 


A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      15 

but  one  kind  word  to  me  in  farewell,  and  I  will  go  from 
her  and  darken  her  life  with  the  shadow  of  mine  no 
more." 

So  we  went  back  to  her,  and  I  saw  her  as  she  slept 
exhausted  with  her  sorrow  for  me.  I  pleaded  that  they 
would  let  me  give  her  one  kiss,  the  first  and  last  that  I 
would  ever  give.  But  they  said  no,  that  was  impossible, 
for  my  touch  would  snap  forever  the  thread  that  held  her 
still  to  life. 

Then  they  awoke  her  and  made  her  write  down  their 
words,  while  I  stood  by  and  heard  each  word  fall  as  a  nail 
in  the  coffin  where  they  were  burying  my  last  hope  for- 
ever. She,  as  one  in  a  dream,  wrote  on,  till  at  last  the 
whole  shameful  story  of  my  life  was  told,  and  I  had  but 
to  tell  her  myself  that  all  was  forever  at  an  end  between 
us.  and  she  was  free  from  my  sinful  presence  and  my 
selfish  love.  I  said  adieu  to  her.  As  drops  of  blood 
wrung  from  my  heart  were  those  words,  and  as  ice  they 
fell  upon  her  heart  and  crushed  it.  Then  I  turned  and 
left  her — how,  I  know  not — but  as  I  went  I  felt  the  cord 
that  had  tied  me  to  my  grave  and  my  earthly  body  snap, 
and  I  was  free — free  to  wander  where  I  would — alone  in 
my  desolation! 

And  then?  Ah,  me!  While  I  write  the  words  the 
tears  of  thankfulness  are  in  my  eyes  again,  and  I  almost 
break  down  in  trying  to  write  them;  then  she  whom  we 
had  deemed  so  weak  and  gentle  that  we  had  but  to  decide 
for  her,  she  called  me  back  with  all  the  force  of  a  love 
none  dare  oppose — called  me  back  to  her.  She  said  she 
could  never  give  me  up  so  long  as  I  had  love  for  her. 
''Let  your  past  be  what  it  might:  let  you  be  sunk  now  even 
to  the  lowest  depths  of  hell  itself,  I  will  still  love  you,  still 
seek  to  follow  you  and  claim  my  right — the  right  of  my 
love — to  help  and  comfort  and  cherish  you  till  God  in  his 
mercy  shall  have  pardoned  your  past  and  you  shall  be 
raised  up  again."  And  then  it  was  that  I  broke  down  and 
wept  as  only  a  strong  proud  man  can  weep,  whose  heart 
has  been  wrung   and   bruised    and   hardened,  and  then 


16      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

touched  by  the  soft  tender  touch  of  a  loving  hand  till  the 
tears  must  come  to  his  relief. 

I  went  back  to  my  love  and  knelt  down  beside  her, 
and  though  they  would  not  let  me  touch  her,  that  calm 
beautiful  spirit  who  was  her  guardian  whispered  to  her 
that  her  prayer  was  answered,  and  that  she  should  indeed 
lead  me  back  to  the  light.  And  so  I  left  my  darling,  and 
as  I  passed  away  I  saw  a  white  angel's  form  hover  over  her 
to  give  her  strength  and  comfort,  who  was  herself  my 
angel  of  light.  I  left  her  thus  with  those  spirits,  and 
went  forth  to  wander  till  her  voice  should  call  me  to  her 
side  again. 

After  the  short  troubled  sleep  into  which  those 
bright  spirits  had  put  her,  my  darling  awoke  the  next 
day,  and  went  to  visit  a  kind  good  man  whom  she  had 
discovered  in  her  efforts  to  find  some  way  by  which  she 
might  reach  me  even  beyond  the  grave. 

If  it  might  be  that  what  she  had  been  told  about 
those  people  who  were  called  Spiritualists  was  really  true, 
she  hoped  through  their  aid  to  speak  again  with  me,  and 
prompted  by  those  who  were  watching  over  her,  she  had 
searched  out  this  man  who  was  known  as  a  healing  me- 
dium, and  by  him  she  had  been  told  that  if  she  herself 
tried,  she  could  write  messages  from  the  so-called  dead. 

This  I  did  not  learn  till  later.  At  the  time  I  only 
felt  myself  summoned  by  the  voice  of  her  whose  power 
over  me  was  so  great,  and  in  obedience  to  it  I  found 
myself  standing  in  what  I  could  dimly  distinguish  to  be 
a  small  room.  I  say  dimly,  because  all  was  still  dark  to 
me  save  only  where  the  light  around  my  darling  shone  as 
a  star  and  showed  faintly  what  was  near. 

It  was  to  this  good  man  of  whom  I  speak  that  she 
had  gone,  and  it  was  her  voice  speaking  to  him  that  had 
drawn  me.  She  was  telling  him  what  had  passed  the 
night  before,  and  how  much  she  loved  me,  and  how  she 
would  gladly  give  all  her  life  if  by  so  doing  she  could 
comfort  and  help  me.  And  that  man  spoke  such  kind 
words  to  her — from  my  heart  I  thanked  and  still  thank 
him  for  them.     He  gave  me  so  much  hope.     He  pointed 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      17 

out  to  my  dear  love  that  the  ties  of  the  earth  body  are 
broken  at  its  death,  and  I  was  free  to  love  her  and  she  was 
free  to  return  that  love — that  she  herself  better  than  any 
other  could  in  truth  help  to  raise  me,  for  her  love  would 
give  me  comfort  and  hope  as  nothing  else  would  do,  and 
would  cheer  my  path  of  repentant  effort.  And  she  had 
now  the  best  of  rights  to  give  it,  my  love  for  her  had  been 
so  pure  and  true  a  passion,  while  hers  for  me  was  stronger 
than  death  itself,  since  it  had  overcome  the  barrier  of 
death.  He  was  so  kind,  this  man — he  helped  me  to  speak 
to  her,  and  to  explain  many  things  as  I  could  not  have 
done  the  night  before  when  my  heart  was  so  sore  and  full 
of  pride.  He  helped  me  to  tell  what  of  excuse  there  had 
been  for  me  in  the  past,  though  I  owned  that  nothing  can 
truly  excuse  our  sins.  He  let  me  tell  her  that  in  spite  of 
all  the  wrong  of  my  past  she  had  been  to  me  as  one 
sacred — loved  with  a  love  I  had  given  to  none  but  herself. 
He  soothed  and  strengthened  her  with  a  kindness  for 
which  I  blessed  him  even  more  than  for  his  help  to  myself, 
and  when  she  left  him  at  last  I,  too,  went  with  her  to  her 
home,  the  light  of  hope  in  both  our  hearts. 

And  when  we  got  there  I  found  that  a  fresh  barrier 
was  raised  up  by  those  two  spirit  brothers  and  others  to 
whom  she  was  dear;  an  invisible  wall  surrounded  her 
through  which  I  could  not  pass,  and  though  I  might 
follow  her  about  I  could  not  get  very  near.  Then  I  said 
to  myself  that  I  would  go  back  to  the  kind  man  and  see 
if  he  would  help  me. 

My  wish  seemed  to  carry  me  back,  for  I  soon  found 
myself  there  again.  He  was  at  once  conscious  of  my  pres- 
ence, and  strange  as  it  may  seem,  I  found  he  could  under- 
stand much,  although  not  all,  that  I  said  to  him.  He 
gathered  the  sense  of  what  I  wanted  to  say,  and  told  me 
many  things  I  shall  not  set  down  here  since  they  con- 
cerned only  myself.  He  assured  me  that  if  I  were  only 
patient  all  would  be  well  in  time,  and  though  the  relations 
might  build  their  spiritual  wall  around  my  love,  her  will 
would  at  all  times  draw  me  through  it  to  her,  and  nothing 
could  shut  out  her  love  from  me;  no  walls  could  keep  that 


18      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

hack.  If  I  would  seek  now  to  learn  the  things  of  the 
spirit  and  work  to  advance  myself,  the  gulf  between  us 
would  disappear.  Comforted  I  left  him  and  wandered 
away  again,  I  knew  not  where. 

I  was  now  beginning  to  be  dimly  conscious  that  there 
were  other  beings  like  myself  flitting  about  near  me  in  the 
darkness,  though  I  could  scarce  see  them.  I  was  so  lost 
and  lonely  that  I  thought  of  going  back  to  my  grave 
again,  as  it  was  the  spot  most  familiar  to  me,  and  my 
thought  seemed  to  take  me  back,  for  soon  I  was  there 
once  more. 

The  flowers  that  my  love  had  brought  were  faded 
now.  She  had  not  been  there  for  two  days;  since  speaking 
to  me  she  seemed  to  forget  the  body  that  was  laid  away  in 
the  earth,  and  this  to  me  was  well,  and  I  would  have  had 
it  so.  It  was  well  for  her  to  forget  the  dead  body  and 
think  only  of  the  living  spirit. 

Even  those  withered  flowers  spoke  of  her  love,  and  I 
tried  to  pick  up  one,  a  white  rose,  to  carry  away  with  me. 
I  found  I  could  not  lift  it,  could  not  move  it  in  the  least. 
My  hand  passed  through  it  as  though  it  was  but  the  reflec- 
tion of  a  rose. 

I  moved  round  to  where  there  was  a  white  marble 
cross  at  the  head  of  the  grave,  and  I  saw  there  the  names 
of  my  beloved  one's  two  brothers.  Then  I  knew  what  sh« 
had  done  in  her  love  for  me;  she  had  laid  my  body  to  rest 
beside  those  she  had  loved  best  of  all.  My  heart  was  so 
touched  that  again  I  wept,  and  my  tears  fell  like  dew 
upon  my  heart  and  melted  awray  its  bitterness. 

I  was  so  lonely  that  at  last  I  rose  and  wandered  away 
again  amongst  other  dark  wandering  shapes,  few  of  whom 
even  turned  to  look  at  me;  perhaps  like  myself  they 
scarcely  saw.  Presently,  however,  three  dark  forms 
which  seemed  like  two  women  and  a  man  passed  near  me, 
and  then  turned  and  followed.  The  man  touched  my 
arm  and  said:  "Where  are  you  bound  for?  Surely  you 
are  newly  come  over  to  this  side,  or  you  would  not  hurry 
on  so;  none  hurry  here  because  we  all  know  we  have 


A  WANDEfiBE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      19 

eternity  to  wander  in."  Then  he  laughed  a  laugh  so  cold 
and  harsh  in  tone  it  made  me  shudder.  One  of  the 
women  took  my  arm  on  one  side  and  one  on  the  other, 
saving:  "Come  away  with  us  and  we  will  show  you  how 
you  may  enjoy  life  even  though  you  are  dead!  If  we  have 
not  got  bodies  to  enjoy  ourselves  through  we  will  borrow 
them  from  some  mortals  for  a  little.  Come  with  us  and 
we  will  show  you  that  all  pleasure  is  not  ended  yet." 

In  my  loneliness  I  was  glad  to  have  some  being  to 
speak  to,  that  although  they  were  all  three  most  repulsive 
looking — the  women  to  my  mind  even  more  so  than  the 
man — I  felt  inclined  to  let  them  lead  me  away  and  see 
what  would  happen,  and  I  had  even  turned  to  accompany 
them  when  afar  off  in  the  dim  distance,  like  a  picture 
traced  in  light  on  a  black  sky,  I  saw  the  spirit  form  of  my 
pure  sweet  love.  Her  eyes  were  closed  as  I  had  seen  her 
in  my  first  vision,  but  as  before  her  hands  were  stretched 
out  to  me  and  her  voice  fell  like  a  voice  from  heaven  on 
my  ears,  saying:  "Oh!  take  care!  take  care!  go  not  with 
them;  they  are  not  good,  and  their  road  leads  only  to 
destruction."  Then  the  vision  was  gone,  and  as  one 
waking  from  a  dream  I  shook  those  three  persons  from 
me  and  hurried  away  again  in  the  darkness.  How  long 
and  how  far  I  wandered  I  know  not.  I  kept  hurrying  on 
to  get  away  from  the  memories  that  haunted  me,  and  I 
seemed  to  have  all  space  to  wander  in. 

At  last  I  sat  down  on  the  ground  to  rest — for  there 
seemed  to  be  ground  solid  enough  to  rest  upon — and  while 
I  sat  there  I  saw  glimmering  through  the  darkness  a  light. 
As  I  drew  near  it  I  saw  a  great  haze  of  light  radiating 
from  a  room  which  I  could  see,  but  it  was  so  bright  it  hurt 
my  eyes  to  look  upon  it  as  would  looking  at  the  noon-day 
sun  on  earth  have  done.  I  could  not  bear  it  and  would 
have  turned  away,  when  a  voice  said:  "Stay,  weary  wan- 
derer! Here  are  only  kind  hearts  and  helping  hands  for 
you.  And  if  you  would  see  your  love,  come  in,  for  she 
is  here  and  you  may  speak  with  her."  Then  I  felt  a 
hand — for  I  could  see  no  one — draw  my  mantle  over  my 


20      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

head  to  shut  out  the  brightness  of  the  light,  and  then  lead 
me  into  the  room  and  seat  me  in  a  large  chair.  I  was  so 
weary,  so  weary,  and  so  glad  to  rest.  And  in  this  room 
there  was  such  peace,  it  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  found 
my  way  to  heaven. 

After  a  little  I  looked  up  and  saw  two  gentle,  kindly 
women  who  were  like  angels  to  my  eyes,  and  I  said  to 
myself,  "I  have  come  near  to  heaven  surely?"  Again  I 
looked,  and  by  this  time  my  eyes  seemed  strengthened,  for 
beyond  those  two  fair  good  women — and  at  first  I  could 
scarce  believe  it,  so  great  was  my  joy — I  saw  my  beloved 
herself  smiling  sadly  but  tenderly  at  where  I  sat.  She 
smiled,  but  I  knew  she  did  not  really  see  me;  one  of  the 
ladies  did  though,  and  she  was  describing  me  to  my 
darling  in  a  low  quiet  voice.  My  darling  seemed  so 
pleased,  for  it  confirmed  to  her  what  the  man  had  told 
her.  She  had  been  telling  these  ladies  what  a  remarkable 
experience  she  had  had,  arid  how  it  seemed  to  her  like  a 
strange  dream.  I  could  have  cried  out  to  her  then  that  I 
was  truly  there,  that  I  still  lived,  still  loved  her,  and  was 
trusting  in  her  love  for  me,  but  I  could  not  move,  some 
spell  was  over  me.  some  power  I  could  dimly  feel  was 
holding  me  back. 

And  then  those  two  kind  ladies  spoke  and  I  knew 
they  were  not  angels  yet,  for  they  were  still  in  their 
earthly  bodies  and  she  could  see  and  speak  to  them. 
They  said  much  of  what  the  kind  good  man  had  done,  as 
to  the  hope  there  was  for  sinners  like  me. 

The  same  voice  which  had  bidden  me  to  enter,  now 
asked  would  I  like  one  of  the  ladies  to  write  a  message  for 
me.     I  said,  "Yes!  a  thousand  times  yes!" 

Then  I  spoke  my  words  and  the  spirit  caused  the 
lady  to  write  them  down.  I  said  to  my  beloved  that  I  still 
lived,  still  loved  her.  I  bid  her  never  to  forget  me,  never 
to  cease  to  think  of  me,  for  I  required  all  her  love  and 
help  to  sustain  me — I  was  ever  the  same  to  her  though 
now  I  was  weak  and  helpless  and  could  not  make  her  see 
me.     And  she.  ah!  she  gave  me  such  sweet  words  in  return 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       21 

I  cannot  write  them  down;  they  are  too  sacred  to  me,  and 
will  rest  in  my  heart  for  evermore. 

********* 

The  period  that  followed  this  interview  was  one  of 
deep  sleep  for  me.  I  was  so  exhausted  that  when  I  left 
that  room  I  wandered  on  a  little  way  and  then  sank  down 
upon  the  ground  in  deep  dreamless  unconsciousness. 
What  did  it  matter  where  I  rested  when  all  was  as  night 
around  me? 

How  long  my  sleep  lasted  I  know  not.  At  that 
period  I  had  no  means  of  counting  time  save  by  the 
amount  of  suffering  and  misery  through  which  I  passed. 
From  my  slumbers  I  awoke  refreshed  in  a  measure,  and 
with  all  my  senses  stronger  in  me  than  before.  I  could 
move  r:  re  rapidly;  my  limbs  felt  stronger  and  freer,  and 
I  was  now  conscious  of  a  desire  to  eat  I  had  not  felt  before. 
My  iongv  j  grew  so  great  that  I  went  in  search  of  food, 
and  fo:  a  long  time  could  find  none  anywhere.  At  last  I 
found  what  looked  like  hard  dry  bread — a  few  crusts  only, 
but  I  was  glad  to  eat  them,  whereupon  I  felt  more 
satisfied.  Here  I  may  say  that  spirits  do  eat  the  spiritual 
counterpart  of  your  food,  do  feel  both  hunger  and  thirst, 
as  keen  to  them  as  your  appetites  are  to  you  on  earth, 
although  neither  our  food  nor  our  drink  would  be  any 
more  visible  to  your  material  sight  than  our  spiritual 
bodies  are,  and  yet  for  us  they  possess  objective  reality. 
Had  I  been  a  drunkard  or  a  lover  of  the  pleasures  of  the 
table  in  my  earthly  body  I  should  much  sooner  have  felt 
the  cravings  of  appetite.  As  it  was,  nature  with  me  had 
ever  been  easily  satisfied,  and  though  at  first  I  turned 
from  those  dry  crusts  in  disgust  a  little  reflection  told  me 
that  I  had  now  no  way  of  procuring  anything,  I  was  like 
a  beggar  and  had  better  content  myself  with  a  beggar's 
fare. 

My  thoughts  had  now  turned  to  my  beloved  again, 
and  the  thoughts  carried  my  spirit  with  them,  so  that  I 
found  myself  entering  once  more  the  room  where  I  had 
last  seen  her  and  the  two  ladies.  This  time  I  seemed  to 
pass  in  at  once,  and  was  received  by  two  spirit  men  whom 


22      A  WA  X  DEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

I  could  but  very  faintly  see.  A  veil  seemed  to  hang 
between  us,  through  which  I  saw  those  two  spirit  men, 
the  ladies  and  my  beloved.  I  was  told  that  I  might  again 
give  a  message  to  her  through  the  lady  who  had  written 
my  words  before.  I  was  so  anxious  to  try  if  I  could  not 
make  my  darling  write  down  my  words  herself  as  I  had 
seen  her  guardian  spirit  do,  that  I  was  allowed  to  try.  To 
my  disappointment  I  found  I  could  not  do  it;  she  was  deaf 
to  all  I  said,  and  I  had  to  give  up  that  idea  and  let  the  lady 
write  for  me  as  before.  After  I  had  given  my  message  I 
rested  for  a  short  time  and  watched  my  beloved  one's 
sweet  face,  as  I  had  been  wont  to  do  in  other  happier  days. 
My  musings  were  interrupted  by  one  of  those  spirit  men — 
a  grave,  handsome  young  man  he  seemed  to  be  so  far  as  I 
could  see  him.  He  spoke  to  me  in  a  quiet  kindly  voice, 
and  said  that  if  I  truly  desired  to  write  my  own  words 
through  my  darling  herself,  it  would  be  well  for  me  to 
join  a  brotherhood  of  penitents  who  like  myself  desired 
to  follow  out  the  better  way,  and  with  them  I  should  learn 
many  things  of  which  I  was  yet  ignorant,  and  which 
would  help  me  to  fit  myself  to  control  her  mind  as  well  as 
give  me  the  privilege  I  sought  of  being  with  her  at  times 
while  she  dwelt  on  earth.  This  way  of  repentance  was 
hard,  he  said — very  hard — the  steps  many,  the  toil  and 
suffering  great,  but  it  led  to  a  fair  and  happy  land  at  last 
where  I  should  rest  in  happiness  such  as  I  could  not  dream 
of  now.  He  assured  me  (even  as  the  kind  earthly  man 
had  done)  that  my  deformed  body,  which  I  was  still  so 
anxious  to  hide  from  my  beloved  one's  eyes,  would  change 
as  my  spirit  changed,  till  I  should  be  once  more  fair  to 
look  upon,  such  as  she  would  no  longer  grieve  to  see. 
Were  I  to  remain  upon  the  earth  plane  as  I  now  was,  I 
should  most  likely  be  drawn  back  into  my  former  haunts 
of  so-called  pleasure,  and  in  that  atmosphere  of  spiritual 
degradation  I  should  soon  lose  the  power  to  be  near  my 
darling  at  all.  For  her  own  sake  those  who  guarded  her 
would  be  obliged  to  exclude  me.  On  the  other  hand,  were 
I  to  join  this  brotherhood  (which  was  one  of  hope  and 
endeavor),  I  should  be  so  helped,  so  strengthened,  and  so 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      23 

taught,  that  when  in  due  course  my  time  came  to  return 
to  the  earth  plane,  I  should  have  acquired  a  strength  and 
an  armor  that  could  resist  its  temptations. 

I  listened  to  the  words  of  this  grave,  courteous  spirit 
with  wonder  and  a  growing  desire  to  know  more  of  this 
brotherhood  of  whom  he  spoke,  and  begged  he  would  take 
me  to  them.  This  he  assured  me  he  would  do,  and  he 
also  explained  that  I  should  be  there  of  my  own  free  will 
and  choice  only.  Did  I  desire  at  any  time  to  leave  I  could 
at  once  do  so.  "All  are  free  in  the  Spirit-world,"  he  said. 
"All  must  follow  only  where  their  own  wishes  and  desires 
lead  them.  If  you  study  to  cultivate  the  higher  desires, 
means  will  be  given  you  to  attain  them,  and  you  will  be 
strengthened  with  such  help  and  strength  as  you  may 
need.  You  are  one  who  has  never  learned  the  power  of 
prayer.  You  will  learn  it  now,  for  all  things  come  by 
earnest  prayer,  whether  you  are  conscious  that  you  pray 
or  not.  For  good  or  for  evil  your  desires  are  as  prayers 
and  call  around  you  good  or  evil  powers  to  answer  them 
for  you." 

As  I  was  again  growing  weary  and  exhausted,  he 
suggested  that  I  should  bid  adieu  to  my  darling  for  a  time. 
He  explained  that  I  should  gain  more  strength  as  well  as 
permit  her  to  do  so  if  I  left  her  for  the  time  I  was  to 
remain  in  this  place  of  which  he  spoke.  It  would  also  be 
well  that  she  should  not  try  to  write  for  three  months,  as 
her  mediumistic  powers  had  been  greatly  tried,  and  if  she 
did  not  rest  them  she  would  be  much  impaired,  while  I 
would  require  all  that  time  to  learn  even  the  simple  les- 
sons needful  before  I  could  control  her. 

Ah!  me,  how  hard  it  seemed  to  us  both  to  make  this 
promise,  but  she  set  me  the  example,  and  I  could  but 
follow  it.  If  she  would  try  to  be  strong  and  patient  so 
should  I,  and  I  registered  a  vow  that  if  the  God  I  had  so 
long  forgotten  would  remember  and  pardon  me  now,  I 
would  give  all  my  life  and  all  my  powers  to  undo  the 
wrongs  that  I  had  clone:  and  so  it  was  that  I  left  for  a 
time  the  troubled  earth  plane  of  the  spirit  world  of  which 
I  had  as  yet  seen  so  little,  but  in  which  I  was  yet  to  see 


24      A  \\  A  X  I )  EBEE  IN  THE  SPIEIT  LAX  US. 

and  suffer  so  much.  As  I  left  the  room  to  go  with  my 
new  guide  I  turned  to  my  love  and  waved  my  hand  in 
farewell,  and  asked  that  the  good  angels  and  the  God  I 
dare  not  pray  to  for  myself  might  bless  and  keep  her  safe 
for  evermore,  and  the  last  thing  I  saw  was  her  tender  eyes 
following  me  with  that  look  of  love  and  hope  which  was 
to  sustain  me  through  many  a  weary,  painful  hour. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      25 


CHAPTER  IV. 

In  the  spirit  world  there  are  many  strange  places, 
many  wondrous  sights,  and  many  organizations  for  help- 
ing repentant  souls,  but  I  have  never  seen  anything  more 
strange  in  its  way  than  this  Home  of  Help,  conducted  by 
the  Brotherhood  of  Hope,  to  which  I  was  now  conducted. 
In  the  then  feeble  condition  of  all  my  spiritual  faculties  I 
was  not  able  to  see  what  the  place  was  like.  I  was  almost 
like  one  who  is  deaf,  dumb  and  blind.  When  I  was  with 
others  I  could  scarcely  see  or  hear  them,  or  make  them 
hear  me,  and  although  I  could  see  a  little,  it  was  more  as 
though  I  was  in  a  perfectly  dark  room  with  only  one  small 
feeble  glimmer  of  light  to  show  me  where  I  went.  On  the 
earth  plane  I  had  not  felt  this  so  much,  for  though  all  was 
darkness  I  could  both  see  and  hear  enough  to  be  con- 
scious of  those  near  me.  It  was  in  ascending  even  to  the 
little  distance  at  which  this  place  was  above  the  earth  that 
I  felt  the  absence  of  all  but  the  most  material  develop- 
ments of  my  spirit. 

That  time  of  darkness  was  so  awful  to  me  that  even 
now  I  scarce  like  to  recall  it,  I  had  so  loved  the  sunshine 
and  the  light.  I  came  from  a  land  where  all  is  sunshine 
and  brightness,  where  the  colors  are  so  rich,  the  sky  so 
clear,  the  flowers  and  the  scenery  so  beautiful,  and  I  so 
loved  light  and  warmth  and  melody;  and  here  as  elsewhere 
since  my  death  I  had  found  only  darkness  and  coldness 
and  gloom;  an  appalling,  enshrouding  gloom,  that 
wrapped  me  round  like  a  mantle  of  night  from  which  I 
could  in  no  way  free  myself;  and  this  awful  gloom  crushed 
my  spirit  as  nothing  else  could  have  done.     I  had  been 


2G      A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

proud  and  haughty  on  earth.  I  came  of  a  race  that  knew 
not  what  it  was  to  bow  before  anyone.     In  my  veins  ran 

the  blood  of  its  haughty  nobles.  Through  my  mother  I 
was  allied  to  the  great  ones  of  earth  whose  ambitions  had 
moved  kingdoms  to  their  will;  and  now  the  lowest, 
humblest,  poorest  beggar  of  my  native  streets  was  greater, 
happier  than  I,  for  he  at  least  had  the  sunshine  and  the 
fiee  air,  and  I  was  as  the  lowest,  most  degraded  prisoner 
in  the  dungeon  cell. 

Had  it  not  been  for  my  one  star  of  hope,  my  angel  of 
light,  and  the  hopes  she  had  given  me  through  her 
love,  I  must  have  sunk  into  the  apathy  of  despair.  But 
when  I  thought  of  her  waiting,  as  she  had  vowed  she 
would  do  all  her  life  for  me,  when  I  recalled  her  sweet  and 
tender  smile  and  the  loving  words  she  had  spoken  to  me, 
my  heart  and  my  courage  revived  again,  and  I  strove  to 
endure,  to  be  patient,  to  be  strong.  And  I  had  need  of  all 
to  help  me,  for  from  now  began  a  period  of  suffering  and 
conflict  I  shall  in' vain  seek  to  make  anyone  fully  realize. 

This  place  where  I  was  now  I  could  barely  see  in  all 
its  details.  It  was  like  a  huge  prison — dim  and  misty  in 
its  outlines.  Later  on  I  saw  it  was  a  great  building  of 
dark  grey  stone  (as  solid  to  my  eyes  as  earthly  stone)  with 
many  long  passages,  some  long  large  halls  or  rooms,  hut 
mostly  composed  of  innumerable  little  cells  with  scarcely 
any  light  and  only  the  barest  of  furniture.  Each  spirit 
had  only  Avhat  he  had  earned  by  his  earthly  life,  and  some 
had  nothing  but  the  little  couch  whereon  they  lay  and 
suffered.  For  all  suffered  there.  It  was  the  House  of 
Sorrow,  yet  it  was  also  a  House  of  Hope,  for  all  there  were 
striving  upwards  to  the  light,  and  for  each  had  begun  the 
time  of  hope.  Each  had  his  foot  planted  upon  the  lowest 
rung  of  the  ladder  of  hope  by  which  he  should  in  time 
mount  even  to  heaven  itself. 

In  my  own  little  cell  there  was  but  my  bed,  a  table 
and  a  chair — nothing  more.  I  spent  my  time  in  resting 
or  meditating  in  my  cell,  and  going  with  those  who,  like 
myself,  soon  grew  strong  enough  to  hear  the  lectures 
which  were  delivered  to  us  in  the  great  hall.     Very  im- 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      27 

pressiye  those  lectures  were;  told  in  the  form  of  a  story, 
but  always  so  as  to  bring  home  to  the  mind  of  each  of  us 
those  things  wherein  we  had  done  wrong.  Great  pains 
were  taken  to  make  us  understand,  from  the  point  of  view 
of  an  impartial  spectator,  the  full  consequences  to  our- 
selves and  others  of  each  of  our  actions,  and  where  we  had 
for  our  own  selfish  gratifications  wronged  or  dragged 
down  another  soul.  So  many  things  which  we  had  done 
because  all  men  did  them,  or  because  we  thought  that  we 
as  men  had  a  right  to  do  them,  were  now  shown  to  us 
from  the  other  side  of  the  picture,  from  those  who  had  in 
a  measure  been  our  victims,  or  where  we  personally  were 
not  directly  responsible  for  their  fall,  the  victims  of  a 
social  system  invented  and  upheld  to  gratify  us  and  our 
selfish  passions.  I  cannot  more  fully  describe  these  lec- 
tures, but  those  amongst  you  who  know  what  are  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  great  cities  of  earth  will  easily  supply  for 
yourselves  the  subjects.  From  such  lectures,  such  pic- 
tures of  ourselves  as  we  were,  stripped  of  all  the  social  dis- 
guises of  earth  life,  we  could  but  return  in  shame  and 
sorrow  of  heart  to  our  cells  to  reflect  over  our  past  and  to 
strive  to  atone  for  it  in  our  future. 

And  in  this  there  was  great  help  given  to  us,  for  with 
the  error  and  its  consequences  we  were  always  shown  the 
way  to  correct  and  overcome  the  evil  desire  in  ourselves, 
and  how  we  might  atone  for  our  own  sins  by  timely  efforts 
to  save  another  from  the  evil  into  which  we  had  fallen,  all 
these  lessons  being  intended  to  fit  us  for  the  next  stage  of 
our  progression,  in  which  we  would  be  sent  back  to  earth 
to  help,  unseen  and  unknown,  mortals  who  were 
struggling  with  earth's  temptations. 

When  we  were  not  attending  the  lectures  we  were 
free  to  go  where  we  might  wish:  that  is,  such  of  us  as  were 
strong  enough  to  move  about  freely.  Some  who  had  left 
dear  friends  on  earth  would  go  to  visit  them,  that,  unseen 
themselves,  they  might  yet  see  those  they  loved.  We  were 
always  warned,  however,  not  to  linger  in  the  temptations 
of  the  earth  plane,  since  many  of  us  would  find  it  difficult 
to  resist  them. 


28      A  WANBEBEK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

Those  who  were  strongest  amongst  us  and  who  pos- 
sessed the  needful  qualities  and  the  desire  to  use  them, 
were  employed  in  magnetising  those  who  were  weakest, 
and  who,  by  reason  of  the  excessive  dissipations  of  their 
earthly  lives,  were  in  such  a  terrihle  condition  of  ex- 
haustion and  suffering  that  the  only  thing  which  could  be 
done  with  them  was  to  allow  them  to  lie  helpless  in  their 
cells  while  others  gave  them  a  little  relief  by  magnetising 
them;  and  here  1  must  describe  to  you  a  very  wonderful 
system  of  healing  these  poor  spirits  which  was  practiced 
in  this  House  of  Hope.  Some  advanced  spirits,  whose 
natural  desires  and  tastes  made  them  doctors  and  healers, 
with  the  help  of  other  spirits  of  different  degrees  of  ad- 
vancement under  them,  would  attend  upon  these  poorest 
and  most  suffering  ones — where  indeed  all  were  suffer- 
ers— and  by  means  of  magnetism  and  the  use  of  others' 
powers  which  they  could  control,  they  would  put  these 
poor  spirits  into  temporary  forgetfulness  of  their  pain; 
and  though  they  awoke  again  to  a  renewal  of  their  suffer- 
ings, yet  in  these  intervals  their  spirits  gained  strength 
and  insensibly  grew  more  able  to  endure,  till  at  last  their 
sufferings  were  mitigated  with  time  and  the  growing  de- 
velopment of  the  spirit  body,  and  they  in  turn  would, 
when  fit  to  do  so,  be  employed  to  magnetise  others  who 
were  still  suffering. 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  you  a  very  clear  picture 
of  this  place  and  those  in  it,  for  although  the  resemblance 
to  an  earthly  hospital  was  very  great,  there  were  many 
little  points  in  which  it  resembled  nothing  which  you  have 
yet  on  earth,  though  as  knowledge  on  earth  advances  the 
resemblance  will  become  closer.  All  was  so  dark  in  this 
place,  because  the  unfortunate  spirits  who  dwelt  there  had 
none  of  the  brightness  of  happy  spirits  to  give  into  the 
atmosphere,  and  it  is  the  state  of  the  spirit  itself  in  the 
spiritual  world  that  makes  the  lightness  or  darkness  of  its 
surroundings.  The  sense  of  darkness  was  also  due  to  the 
almost  total  blindness  of  these  poor  spirits,  whose  spiritual 
senses  never  having  been  developed  on  earth  made  them 
alike  insensible  to  all  around  them,  just  as  those  born  on 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       29 

earth  in  a  state  of  blindness,  deafness  and  dumbness 
would  be  unconscious  of  the  things  which  were  apparent 
to  those  fully  endowed  with  senses.  In  visiting  the 
atmosphere  of  the  earth  plane,  which  was  a  degree  more 
suited  to  their  state  of  development,  these  poor  spirits 
would  still  be  in  darkness,  though  it  would  not  be  so  com- 
plete, and  they  would  possess  the  power  of  seeing  those 
beings  like  themselves  with  whom  they  could  come  into 
direct  contact,  and  also  such  mortals  as  were  in  a 
sufficiently  low  spiritual  degree  of  development.  The 
higher  and  more  spiritualized  mortals,  and  still  more  the 
disembodied  spirits  in  advance  of  them  would  be  only 
very  dimly  discernible,  or  even  totally  invisible. 

The  "working"  Brothers  of  Hope,  as  they  were 
called,  were  each  provided  with  a  tiny  little  light  like  a 
star,  whose  rays  illuminated  the  darkness  of  the  cells  they 
visited  and  carried  the  light  of  hope  wherever  the  brothers 
went.  I  myself  at  first  was  so  great  a  sufferer  that  I  used 
simply  to  lie  in  my  cell  in  a  state  of  almost  apathetic 
misery,  watching  for  this  spark  to  come  glimmering  down 
the  long  corridor  to  my  door,  and  wondering  how  long  it 
would  be  in  earth  time  ere  it  would  come  again.  But  it 
was  not  long  that  I  lay  thus  utterly  prostrate.  Unlike 
many  of  the  poor  spirits  who  had  added  a  love  of  drink 
to  their  other  vices,  my  mind  was  too  clear  and  my  desire 
to  improve  too  strong  to  leave  me  long  inactive,  and  as 
soon  as  I  found  myself  able  to  move  again  I  petitioned  to 
be  allowed  to  do  something,  however  humble,  whicR 
might  be  of  use.  I  was  therefore,  as  being  myself  pos- 
sessed of  strong  magnetic  powers,  set  to  help  an  unfortu- 
nate young  man  who  was  utterly  unable  to  move,  and  who 
used  to  lie  moaning  and  sighing  all  the  time.  Poor  fel- 
low, he  was  only  thirty  years  old  when  he  left  the  earth 
body,  but  in  his  short  life  he  had  contrived  to  plunge  into 
such  dissipations  that  he  had  prematurely  killed  himself, 
and  was  now  suffering  such  agonies  from  the  reaction 
upon  the  spirit  of  those  powers  he  had  abused,  that  it  was 
often  more  than  I  could  bear  to  witness  them.  My  task 
was  to  make  soothing  passes  over  him,  by  which  means  he 


30      A  WANDEHER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

would  obtain  a  little  relief,  till  at  stated  times  a  more 
advanced  spirit  than  myself  would  come  and  put  him  into 
a  state  of  unconsciousness.  And  all  this  time  I  was  myself 
suffering  keenly  both  in  mind  and  in  my  spirit  body,  lor 
in  the  lower  spheres  the  spirit  is  conscious  of  bodily  suffer- 
ings. As  it  grows  more  advanced  the  suffering  becomes 
more  purely  mental — the  less  material  envelope  of  the 
higher  spirits  making  them  at  last  insensible  to  anything 
like  material  pain. 

As  my  strength  grew  so  did  my  desires  revive  and 
cause  me  so  much  torment  that  I  was  often  tempted  to  do 
what  many  poor  spirits  did — go  back  to  earth  in  search  of 
the  means  to  satisfy  them  through  the  material  bodies  of 
those  yet  on  earth.  My  bodily  sufferings  grew  very  great, 
for  the  strength  I  had  been  so  proud  of  and  had  used  to 
so  bad  a  purpose  made  me  suffer  more  than  one  who  had 
been  weak.  As  the  muscles  of  an  athlete  who  has  used 
them  to  excess  begin  after  a  time  to  contract  and  cause 
him  excruciating  pain,  so  those  powers  and  that  strength 
which  I  had  abused  in  my  earthly  life  now  began,  through 
its  inevitable  reaction  on  my  spirit  body,  to  cause  me  the 
most  intense  suffering.  And  then  as  I  grew  stronger  and 
stronger  and  able  to  enjoy  what  had  seemed  enjoyment  in 
my  earth  life,  the  desire  for  those  pleasures  grew  and  grew 
till  I  could  scarce  refrain  from  returning  to  the  earth 
plane  there  to  enjoy,  through  the  organism  of  those  yet  in 
the  flesh,  whose  sordid  lives  and  low  desires  placed  them 
on  a  level  with  the  spirits  of  the  earth  plane,  those 
pleasures  of  the  senses  which  had  still  so  great  a  tempta- 
tion for  us.  Many  and  many  of  those  who  were  in  the 
House  of  Hope  with  me  would  yield  to  the  temptation 
and  go  back  for  a  time  to  haunt  the  earth,  whence  they 
would  return  after  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  exhausted 
and  degraded  even  below  their  former  state.  All  were 
free  to  go  or  to  stay  as  they  desired.  All  could  return 
Avhen  they  wished,  for  the  doors  of  Hope's  castle  were 
never  shut  upon  anyone,  however  unthankful  or  un- 
worthy they  might  be,  and  I  have  often  wondered  at  the 
infinite  patience  and  tenderness  which  were  ever  shown 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      31 

for  our  weaknesses  and  our  sins.  It  was  indeed  only 
possible  to  pity  these  poor  unfortunates,  who  had  made 
such  utter  slaves  of  themselves  to  their  base  desires  that 
they  could  not  resist  them  and  were  drawn  back  time  after 
time  till  at  last,  satiated  and  exhausted,  they  could  move 
no  more  and  were  like  the  unfortunate  young  man  whom 
I  tended. 

For  myself,  I  might  also  have  yielded  to  the  tempta- 
tion had  it  not  been  for  the  thoughts  of  my  pure  love,  and 
the  hopes  she  had  given  me,  the  purer  desires  she  had 
inspired,  and  I  at  least  could  not  condemn  these  poor 
erring  souls  who  had  no  such  blessings  granted  them.  I 
went  to  earth  very  often,  but  it  was  to  where  my  beloved 
one  dwelt,  and  her  love  drew  me  ever  to  her  side,  away 
from  all  temptations,  into  the  pure  atmosphere  of  her 
home,  and  though  I  could  never  approach  near  enough 
to  touch  her,  by  reason  of  this  icy  invisible  wall  which  I 
have  described,  I  used  to  stand  outside  of  it,  looking  at 
her  as  she  sat  and  worked  or  read  or  slept.  When  I  was 
there  she  would  always  be  in  a  dim  way  conscious  of  my 
presence,  and  would  whisper  my  name  or  turn  to  where  I 
was  with  one  of  her  sad  sweet  smiles  that  I  would  carry 
away  the  recollection  of  and  comfort  myself  with  in  my 
lonely  hours.  She  looked  so  sad,  so  very  sad,  my  poor 
love,  and  so  pale  and  delicate,  it  made  my  heart  ache  even 
while  it  comforted  me  to  see  her.  I  could  tell  that  in 
spite  of  all  her  efforts  to  be  brave  and  patient,  and  to  hope, 
the  strain  was  almost  too  great  for  her,  and  each  day  she 
grew  more  delicate  looking.  She  had  many  other  things 
to  try  her  at  this  time;  there  were  family  troubles  and  the 
doubts  and  fears  suggested  by  the  strangeness  of  her  inter- 
course with  the  world  of  spirits.  At  times  she  would 
wonder  if  it  were  not  all  a  wild  delusion,  a  dream  from 
which  she  would  awake  to  find  there  was  after  all  no  com- 
munication between  the  dead  and  the  living,  no  means  by 
which  she  could  reach  me  again,  and  then  a  dull  despair 
would  seize  upon  her  and  upon  me  also  as  I  stood  beside 
her  and  read  her  feeling,  helpless  and  powerless  to  make 
her  realize  my  actual  presence  beside  her,  and  I  would 


32      A  WAXDEKKR  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

pray  to  be  allowed  in  some  way  to  make  her  know  that  I 
was  there. 

One  night  when  I  had  watched  her  sink  into  sleep 
after  a  weary  time  of  weeping,  I,  who  could  have  wept, 
too,  in  my  grief  for  us  both,  was  suddenly  touched  upon 
the  shoulder,  and  looking  up  beheld  her  guardian  spirit 
who  had  first  helped  me  to  speak  with  her.  He  asked  me 
if  I  would  be  very  quiet  and  self-restrained  if  he  allowed 
me  to  kiss  her  as  she  slept,  and  I,  wild  with  this  new  joy, 
most  eagerly  promised.  Taking  my  hand  in  his  we  passed 
together  through  the  transparent  icy  wall  that  was  to  me 
so  impervious.  Bending  over  her  the  guide  made  some 
strange  motions  with  his  hand,  and  then  taking  one  of  my 
hands  in  his  for  a  few  moments  he  bade  me  touch  her 
very  gently.  She  was  lying  quietly  asleep,  with  the  tears 
still  on  her  eyelashes  and  her  sweet  lips  slightly  parted  as 
*  though  she  was  speaking  in  her  dreams.  One  hand  rested 
against  her  cheek  and  I  took  it  in  mine,  so  gently,  so 
tenderly — not  to  awaken  her.  Her  hand  closed  half  con- 
sciously upon  mine  and  a  look  of  such  joy  came  into  her 
face  that  I  feared  she  would  awake.  But  no!  The  bright 
spirit  smiled  at  us  both  and  said,  "Kiss  her  now."  And 
I — ah!  I  stooped  over  her  and  touched  her  at  last  and 
gave  her  the  first  kiss  I  had  ever  given.  I  kissed  her  not 
once  but  half  a  dozen  times,  so  passionately  that  she 
awoke  and  the  bright  spirit  drew  me  away  in  haste.  She 
looked  round  and  asked  softly:  "Do  I  dream,  or  was  that 
indeed  my  beloved  one?"  I  answered,  "Yes,"  and  she 
seemed  to  hear,  for  she  smiled  so  sweet  a  smile — ah!  so 
sweet!  and  again  and  again  she  repeated  my  name  softly 
to  herself. 

Not  for  long  after  that  would  they  allow  me  to  touch 
her  again,  but  I  was  often  near,  and  the  joy  of  that  one 
meeting  dwelt  in  our  hearts  for  many  an  hour.  I  could 
see  how  real  had  been  my  kiss  to  her,  and  for  me  it  was  as 
an  anchor  of  hope  encouraging  me  to  believe  that  in  time 
I  should  indeed  be  able  to  make  her  feel  my  touch  and 
hold  communication  with  her. 


A  \YAXDEKER  IX  THE  SPIEIT  LAXDS.      33 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  time  came  at  last  for  me  to  leave  the  House  of 
Hope  and  go  forth,  strong  in  the  lessons  I  had  learned 
there,  to  work  out  my  atonement  on  the  earth  plane  and 
in  those  lower  spheres  to  which  my  earthly  life  had 
sunk  me. 

Eight  or  nine  months  had  elapsed  since  I  had  died, 
and  I  had  grown  strong  and  vigorous  once  more.  I  could 
move  freely  over  the  great  sphere  of  the  earth  plane.  My 
sight  and  my  other  senses  were  so  far  developed  that  I 
could  see  and  hear  and  speak  clearly.  The  light  around 
me  now  was  that  of  a  faint  twilight  or  when  the  night 
first  begins  to  dawn  into  the  day.  To  my  eyes  so  long 
accustomed  to  the  darkness,  this  dull  light  was  very 
welcome,  though  after  a  time  I  grew  so  to  long  for  the 
true  day  to  dawn  that  this  dull  twilight  was  most 
monotonous  and  oppressive.  Those  countries  which  are 
situated  in  this,  the  third  circle  of  the  earth  plane  or  first 
sphere,  are  called  "The  Twilight  Lands,"  and  it  is  thither 
that  those  spirits  pass  whose  lives  have  been  too  selfish 
and  material  to  allow  their  souls  to  reach  any  higher  state 
of  development.  Even  these  Twilight  Lands,  however, 
are  a  degree  above  those  "Haunting"  spirits  of  the  earth 
plane  who  are  literally  earthbound  to  their  former 
habitations. 

My  work  was  to  be  begun  upon  the  earth  itself,  and 
in  those  haunts  which  men  of  the  world  call  the  haunts 
of  pleasure,  though  no  pleasure  is  so  fleeting,  no  degrada- 
tion so  sure,  as  that  which  they  produce  even  during  the 
earthly  life.     And  now  I  found  the  value  of  the  teachings 


31      A  WANBEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

and  the  experience  I  had  gained  during  my  stay  in  the 
House  of  Hope.  Temptations  that  might  once  have 
seemed  such  to  me  were  such  no  longer.  I  knew  the 
satisfaction  such  pleasures  give,  and  the  cost  at  which 
alone  they  can  be  bought,  and  thus  in  controlling  a 
mortal,  as  I  often  had  to  do,  I  was  proof  against  the 
temptation  such  control  offered  of  using  his  body  for  my 
own  gratification. 

Few  people  yet  in  their  earthly  envelopes  understand 
that  spirits  can,  and  very  often  do,  take  such  complete 
possession  of  the  bodies  of  mortal  men  and  women  that, 
for  the  time,  it  is  as  though  that  earth  body  belonged  to 
the  disembodied  and  not  the  embodied  spirit.  Many 
cases  of  so-called  temporary  madness  are  due  to  the  con- 
trolling power  of  very  low  spirits  of  evil  desires  or 
frivolous  minds,  who  are,  through  the  weakness  of  will  or 
other  causes,  put  into  complete  rapport  with  the  embodied 
spirit  whose  body  they  seek  to  use.  Amongst  many 
ancient  races  this  fact  was  acknowledged  and  studied  as 
well  as  many  branches  of  the  occult  sciences  which  we  of 
the  nineteenth  century  have  grown  too  wise,  forsooth,  to 
look  into,  even  to  discover,  if  we  can,  those  germs  of  truth 
with  which  all  ages  have  been  blessed  and  which  are  worth 
disinterring  from  the  mass  of  rubbish  in  which  succeed- 
ing generations  of  men  have  buried  them. 

The  work  upon  which  I  was  now  engaged  will  seem 
no  less  strange  to  you  than  it  did  at  first  to  me.  The 
great  Brotherhood  of  Hope  was  only  one  of  a  countless 
variety  of  societies  which  exist  in  the  spirit  world  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  help  to  all  who  are  in  need.  Their 
operations  are  carried  on  everywhere  and  in  all  spheres, 
and  their  members  are  to  be  found  from  the  very  lowest 
and  darkest  spheres  to  the  very  highest  which  surround 
the  earth,  and  even  extend  into  the  spheres  of  the  solar 
systems.  They  are  like  immense  chains  of  spirits,  the 
lowest  and  humblest  being  always  helped  and  protected 
by  those  above. 

A  message  would  be.  sent  to  the  Brotherhood  that 
help  was  required  to  assist  some  struggling  mortal  or 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       35 

unhappy  spirit,  and  such  one  of  the  brothers  as  was 
thought  to  be  most  fit  would  be  sent  to  help.  Such  a 
one  of  us  would  be  sent  as  had  in  his  own  earth  life  yielded 
to  a  similar  temptation,  and  had  suffered  all  the  bitter 
consequences  and  remorse  for  his  sin.  Often  the  man  or 
woman  to  be  helped  had  unconsciously  sent  out  an  aspira- 
tion for  help  and  strength  to  resist  temptation,  and  that 
of  itself  was  a  prayer,  which  would  be  heard  in  the  spirit 
world  as  a  cry  from  earth's  children  that  appealed  to  all 
in  the  spirit  world  who  had  been  themselves  earth's  sons 
and  daughters;  or  it  might  be  that  some  spirit  to  whom 
the  struggling  one  was  very  dear  would  seek  for  help  on 
their  behalf  and  would  thus  appeal  to  us  to  come  to  their 
aid.  Our  task  would  be  to  follow  and  control  the  one  we 
desired  to  help  till  the  temptation  had  been  overcome. 
We  would  identify  ourselves  so  closely  with  the  mortal 
that  for  a  time  we  actually  shared  his  life,  his  thoughts, 
everything,  and  during  this  dual  state  of  existence  we 
ourselves  often  suffered  most  keenly  both  from  our 
anxiety  for  the  man  whose  thoughts  became  almost  as  our 
own,  and  from  the  fact  that  his  anxieties  were  as  ours, 
while  in  thus  going  over  again  a  chapter  in  our  past  lives 
we  endured  all  the  sorrow,  remorse  and  bitterness  of  the 
past  time.  He  on  his  side  felt,  though  not  in  so  keen  a 
degree,  the  sorrowful  state  of  our  mind,  and  where  the 
control  was  very  complete  and  the  mortal  highly  sensitive, 
he  would  often  fancy  that  things  which  we  had  done  must 
have  been  done  by  himself,  either  in  some  former  for- 
gotten stage  of  existence,  or  else  seen  in  some  vivid  dream 
they  could  scarcely  recall. 

This  controlling  or  overshadowing  of  a  mortal  by  an 
immortal  is  used  in  many  ways,  and  those  who  foolishly 
make  themselves  liable  to  it  either  by  a  careless  evil  life, 
or  by  seeking  in  a  frivolous  spirit  of  mere  curiositv  to 
search  out  mysteries  too  deep  for  their  shallow  minds  to 
fathom,  often  find  to  their  cost  that  the  low  spirits  who 
haunt  the  earth  plane,  and  even  those  from  much  lower 
spheres,  can  often  obtain  so  great  a  hold  over  a  mortal 
that  at  last  he  becomes  a  mere  puppet  in  their  hands. 


36      A  WANDEREIt  IN  THE  SPJEIT  LANDS. 

whose  body  they  can  use  at  will.  Many  a  weak-willed 
man  and  woman  who  in  pure  surroundings  would  lead 
<mlv  good  and  pure  lives,  are  drawn  by  evil  surroundings 
into  sins  for  whieh  they  are  but  partly  responsible — sins 
for  which  indeed  those  controlling  spirits  who  have  thus 
made  use  of  these  weak  mortals,  will  be  held  responsible 
as  well  as  the  mortal  sinner  himself.  For  thus  tempting 
and  using  another's  organism  those  evil  spirits  will  have 
to  render  a  terrible  account,  since  they  have  been  doubly 
guilty.  In  sinning,  themselves,  and  in  dragging  down 
another  soul  with  them,  they  sink  themselves  to  a  depth 
from  which  many  years,  and  in  some  instances  many  cen- 
turies, of  suffering  cannot  free  them. 

In  my  work  I  have  had  to  act  the  part  of  controlling 
spirit  many  times,  but  I  was  sent  to  do  so  only  in  order 
that  I  might  impress  the  mortal  with  a  sense  of  the 
terrible  consequences  of  yielding  to  sin,  and  also  that  I 
might,  when  not  actually  controlling  the  mortal  myself, 
act  as  guard  and  watchman  to  protect  him  from  the 
control  of  the  wandering  tempting  spirits  of  the  earth 
plane.  My  work  was  to  raise  the  barrier  of  my  strong 
will-force  against  theirs,  and  keep  them  back  so  that  they 
could  not  come  sufficiently  en  rapport  with  my  charge  to 
control  him. 

If,  however,  he  had  allowed  himself  to  be  already 
controlled  by  these  lower  spirits,  they  would  still  be  able 
to  project  their  thoughts  and  suggestions  to  him,  though 
they  did  so  with  difficulty. 

Although  I  did  not  know  it  at  the  time,  and  believed 
that  upon  myself  would  rest  the  responsibility  of  keeping 
safe  those  I  was  sent  to  guard,  I  was  only  the  last  link  in 
a  long  chain  of  spirits  who  were  all  helping  at  the  same 
time.  Each  spirit  was  a  step  in  advance  of  the  one  below 
him,  and  each  had  to  strengthen  and  help  the  one  below 
him  should  he  faint  or  fail  in  his  task.  My  part  was  also 
intended  to  be  a  lesson  to  myself  in  self-denial  and  the 
sacrifice  of  my  own  comfort  that  I  might  help  another. 
My  condition  as  a  spirit  on  the  earth  plane  made  me  of 
use,  seeing  that  I  could  oppose  a  material  force  of  will 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      37 

against  those  tempting  spirits  in  an  atmosphere  where  a 
more  refined  spirit  would  have  been  unable  to  penetrate, 
and  I  as  one  of  the  earth-bound  myself  could  come  en 
rapport  with  the  mortal  mure  closely  than  a  more  ad- 
vanced spirit  would  have  been  able  to  do.  I  had,  by 
means  of  dreams  when  he  slept  and  constant  haunting 
thoughts  while  he  waked,  to  impress  upon  the  mind  of  the 
man  I  controlled  what  my  experience  had  been,  to  make 
him  feel  all  the  terrible  Bufferings  of  remorse  and  fear,  all 
the  loathing  of  himself  through  which  I  had  passed,  and 
through  which  I  passed  again  in  bitter  agony  of  soul  while 
thus  recalling  them.  All  my  feelings  were  transferred  to 
his  mind  till  he  might  truly  have  said  he  was  haunted  by 
all  the  terrible  possibilities  of  his  meditated  sins. 

Over  this  particular  phase  of  my  experiences  I  shall 
not  dwell  longer  now,  since  it  is  one  familiar  to  many  on 
this  side  of  life.  I  will  but  say  that  I  returned  from  my 
mission  with  a  consciousness  that  I  had  saved  many  others 
from  the  pitfalls  into  which  I  had  fallen,  and  thereby  had 
atoned  in  part  for  my  own  sins.  Several  times  was  I  sent 
upon  such  missions  and  each  time  returned  successful; 
and  here  I  must  pause  to  say  that  if  my  progress  in  the 
spirit  world  has  been  so  rapid  as  to  surprise  most  who 
knew  of  my  first  condition  on  entering  it,  and  if  I  again 
and  again  resisted  all  the  temptations  that  befell  me,  the 
credit  is  not  so  much  due  to  myself  as  to  the  wonderful 
help  and  comfort  that  was  given  to  me  by  the  constant 
and  unvarying  love  of  her  who  was  indeed  my  good  angel, 
and  whose  image  ever  came  between  me  and  all  harm. 
When  all  others  might  have  pleaded  to  me  in  vain,  I  ever 
hearkened  to  her  voice  and  turned  aside. 

When  I  was  not  helping  someone  yet  in  the  earth 
body,  I  was  sent  to  work  amongst  the  unhappy  spirits  of 
the  earth  plane  who  were  still  wandering  in  its  darkness 
even  as  I  had  at  first  done.  And  to  them  I  went  as  one 
of  the  great  Brotherhood  of  Hope,  bearing  in  my  hand 
the  tiny  starlike  light  which  is  the  symbol  of  that  order. 
Its  rays  would  dispel  the  darkness  around  me,  and  I  would 
see  poor  unhappy  spirits  crouching  on  the  ground  two  or 


38      A  WANBEBEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

three  together,  or  sunk  in  helpless  misery  in  some  corner 
by  themselves,  too  hopeless,  too  unhappy  to  heed 
anything. 

To  them  it  was  my  work  to  point  out  how  they  could 
either  be  taken  to  such  a  House  of  Hope  as  the  one  in 
which  I  had  been,  or  in  other  cases  how  they  might,  by 
trying  to  help  others  around  them,  help  themselves  and 
earn  the  gratitude  of  those  who  were  even  more  hopeless 
than  themselves.  To  each  poor  suffering  soul  a  different 
balm  of  healing  would  be  given,  for  each  had  known  a 
different  experience  and  each  had  had  a  different  cause 
for  his  sins. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      39 


CHAPTER  VI. 

When  my  period  of  work  in  any  place  was  finished,  I 
used  to  return  to  the  Twilight  Land  to  rest  in  another 
large  building  which  belonged  to  our  brotherhood.  It 
was  somewhat  like  the  other  place  in  appearance  only  not 
quite  so  dark,  nor  so  dismal,  nor  so  bare,  and  in  the  little 
room  which  belonged  to  each  there  were  such  things  as  we 
had  earned  as  the  rewards  of  .our  labors.  For  instance,  in 
my  room,  which  was  still  somewhat  bare-looking,  I  had 
one  great  treasure.  This  was  a  picture  of  my  love.  It 
seemed  more  like  a  reflection  of  her  in  a  mirror  than  a 
mere  painted  image,  for  when  I  looked  intently  at  her  she 
would  smile  back  at  me  in  answer,  as  though  her  spirit 
was  conscious  of  my  gaze,  and  when  I  wished  very  much 
to  know  what  she  was  doing,  my  picture  would  change 
and  show  me.  This  was  regarded  by  all  my  companions 
as  a  great  and  wonderful  privilege,  and  I  was  told  it  was  as 
much  the  result  of  her  love  and  constant  thought  for  me 
as  of  my  own  efforts  to  improve.  Since  then  I  have  been 
shown  how  this  living  image  was  thrown  upon  the  light 
of  the  astral  plane  and  then  projected  into  its  frame  in  my 
room,  but  I  cannot  explain  it  more  fully  in  this  book. 
Another  gift  from  my  darling  was  a  white  rose-bud,  which 
I  had  in  a  small  vase  and  which  never  seemed  to  fade  or 
wither,  but  remained  fresh  and  fragrant  and  ever  an 
emblem  of  her  love,  so  that  I  called  her  my  white  rose. 

I  had  so  longed  for  a  flower.  I  had  so  loved  flowers 
on  earth  and  I  had  seen  none  since  I  saw  those  my  darling 
put  upon  my  grave.  In  this  land  there  were  no  flowers, 
not  even  a  leaf  or  blade  of  grass,  not  a  tree  or  a  shrub 


40      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

however  stunted — for  the  dry  arid  soil  of  our  selfishness 
had  no  blossom  or  green  thing  to  give  to  any  one  of  us; 
and  it  was  when  I  told  her  this  during  one  of  the  brief 
visits  I  used  to  pay  her,  and  when  through  her  own  hand 
1  was  able  to  write  short  messages — it  was,  I  say,  when  I 
told  her  that  there  was  not  one  fair  thing  for  me  to  look 
upon  save  only  the  picture  of  herself,  that  she  asked  that 
I  might  be  given  a  flower  from  her,  and  this  white  rose- 
bud was  brought  to  my  room  by  a  spirit  friend  and  left  for 
me  to  find  when  I  returned  from  earth  and  her.  Ah!  you 
who  have  so  many  flowers  that  you  do  not  value  them 
enough  and  leave  them  to  wither  unseen,  you  can  scarce 
realize  what  joy  this  blossom  brought  to  me  nor  how  I 
have  so  treasured  it  and  her  picture  and  some  loving 
words  she  once  wrote  to  me,  that  I  have  carried  them  with 
.me  from  sphere  to  sphere  as  I  have  risen,  and  shall,  I 
hope,  treasure  them  evermore. 

From  this  Twilight  Land  I  took  many  journeys  and 
saw  many  strange  and  different  countries,  but  all  bore  the 
same  stamp  of  coldness  and  desolation. 

One  place  was  a  great  valley  of  grey  stones,  with  dim, 
cold,  grey  hills  shutting  it  in  on  every  side,  and  this 
twilight  sky  overhead.  Here  again  not  a  blade  of  grass, 
not  one*  poor  stunted  shrub  was  to  be  seen,  not  one  touch 
of  color  or  brightness  anywhere,  only  this  dull  desolation 
of  grey  stones.  Those  who  dwelt  in  this  valley  had 
centered  their  lives  and  their  affections  in  themselves  and 
had  shut  up  their  hearts  against  all  the  warmth  and 
beauty  of  unselfish  love.  They  had  lived  only  for  them- 
selves, their  own  gratification,  their  own  ambitions,  and 
now  they  saw  nothing  but  themselves  and  the  grey  desola- 
tion of  their  hard  selfish  lives  around  them.  There  were 
a  great  many  beings  flitting  uneasily  about  in  this  valley, 
but  strange  to  say  they  had  been  so  centered  in  themselves 
that  they  had  lost  the  power  to  see  anyone  else. 

These  unhappy  beings  were  invisible  to  each  other 
until  such  time  as  the  thought  of  another  and  the  desire 
to  do  something  for  some  one  besides  themselves  should 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      41 

awaken,  when  they  would  hecome  conscious  of  those  near 
to  them,  and  through  their  elt'orts  to  lighten  another's  lot 
they  would  improve  their  own,  till  at  last  their  stunted 
affections  would  expand  and  the  hazy  valley  of  selfishness 
would  hold  them  in  its  chains  no  more. 

Beyond  this  valley  I  came  upon  a  great,  dry,  sandy- 
looking  tract  of  country  where  there  was  a  scanty 
straggling  vegetation,  and  where  the  inhabitants  had 
begun  in  some  places  to  make  small  attempts  at  gardens 
near  their  habitations.  In  some  places  these  habitations 
were  clustered  so  thickly  together  that  they  formed  small 
towns  and  cities.  But  all  bore  that  desolate  ugly  look 
which  came  from  the  spiritual  poverty  of  the  inhabitants. 
This  also  was  a  land  of  selfishness  and  greed,  although  not 
of  such  complete  indifference  to  others'  feelings  as  in  the 
grey  valley,  and  therefore  they  sought  for  a  certain 
amount  of  companionship  even  with  those  around  them. 
Many  had  come  from  the  grey  valley,  but  most  were  direct 
from  the  earth  life  and  were  now,  poor  souls,  struggling 
to  rise  a  little  higher,  and  wherever  this  was  the  case  and 
an  effort  was  made  to  overcome  their  own  selfishness,  then 
the  dry  soil  around  their  homes  would  begin  to  put  forth 
tiny  blades  of  grass  and  little  stunted  shoots  of  shrubs. 

Such  miserable  hovels  as  were  in  this  land!  such 
ragged,  repulsive,  wretched-looking  people,  like  tramps 
or  beggars,  yet  many  had  been  amongst  earth's  wealthiest 
and  most  eminent  in  fashionable  life,  and  had  enjoyed  all 
that  luxury  could  give!  But  because  they  had  used  their 
wealth  only  for  themselves  and  their  own  enjoyments, 
giving  to  others  but  the  paltry  crumbs  that  they  could 
spare  from  their  own  wealth  and  hardly  notice  that  they 
had  given  them — because  of  this,  I  say,  they  were  now 
here  in  this  Twilight  Land,  poor  as  beggars  in  the  true 
spiritual  wealth  of  the  soul  which  may  be  earned  in  the 
earthly  life  alike  by  the  richest  king  or  the  poorest  beggar, 
and  without  which  those  who  come  over  to  the  spirit 
land — be  they  of  earth's  greatest  or  humblest — must  come 
here  to  dwell  where  all  are  alike  poor  in  spiritual  things. 


42      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

J I  ere  some  of  the  people  would  wrangle  and  quarrel 
and  complain  that  they  had  not  been  fairly  treated  in 
being  in  such  a  place,  seeing  what  had  been  their  positions 
in  earth  life.  They  would  blame  others  as  being  more 
culpable  than  themselves  in  the  matter,  and  wake  a  thou- 
sand excuses,  a  thousand  pretences,  tu  anyone  who  would 
listen  to  them  and  the  story  of  what  they  would  call  their 
wrongs.  Others  would  still  be  trying  to  follow  out  the 
schemes  of  their  earthly  lives  and  would  try  to  make  their 
hearers  believe  that  they  had  found  means  (at  the  expense 
of  someone  else)  of  ending  all  this  weary  life  of  discom- 
fort, and  would  plot  and  plan  and  try  to  carry  out  their 
own  schemes,  and  spoil  those  of  others  as  being  likely  to 
interfere  with  theirs,  and  so  on  would  go  the  weary  round 
of  life  in  this  Land  of  Unrest. 

To  all  whom  I  found  willing  to  listen  to  me  I  gave 
some  word  of  hope,  some  thought  of  encouragement  or 
help  to  find  the  true  way  out  of  this  country,  and  so  passed 
on  through  it  and  journeyed  into  the  Land  of  Misers — a 
land  given  over  to  them  alone,  for  few  have  sympathy 
with  true  misers  save  those  who  also  share  their  all- 
absorbing  desire  to  hoard  simply  for  the  pleasure  of 
hoarding. 

In  this  country  were  dark  crooked-looking  beings 
with  long  claw-like  fingers,  who  were  scratching  in  the 
black  soil  like  birds  of  prey  in  search  of  stray  grains  of 
gold  that  here  and  there  rewarded  their  toil;  and  wdien 
they  had  found  any  they  would  wrap  them  up  in  little 
wallets  they  carried  and  thrust  them  into  their  bosoms 
that  they  might  lie  next  their  hearts,  as  the  thing  of  all 
things  most  dear  to  them.  As  a  rule  they  were  lonely, 
solitary  beings,  wdro  avoided  each  other  by  instinct  lest 
they  should  be  robbed  of  their  cherished  treasure. 

Here  I  found  nothing  that  I  could  do.  Only  one 
solitary  man  listened  for  a  brief  moment  to  what  I  had  to 
say  ere  he  returned  to  his  hunt  in  the  earth  for  treasure, 
furtively  watching  me  till  I  was  gone  lest  I  should  learn 
what  he  had  already  got.  The  others  were  all  so  absorbed 
in  their  search  for  treasure  they  could  not  even  be  made 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.       43 

conscious  of  my  presence,  and  I  soon  passed  on  from  that 
bleak  land. 

Erom  the  Misers'  Country  I  passed  downwards  into 
a  dark  sphere,  which  was  really  below  the  earth  in  the 
sense  of  being  even  lower  in  its  spiritual  inhabitants  than 
parts  of  the  earth  plane. 

Here  it  was  very  much  like  the  Land  of  Unrest,  onl}- 
that  the  spirits  who  dwelt  here  were  worse  and  more 
degraded  looking.  There  was  no  attempt  made  at  cultiva- 
tion, and  the  sky  overhead  was  almost  dark  like  night,  the 
light  being  only  such  as  enabled  them  to  see  each  other 
and  the  objects  near  them.  Whereas  in  the  Land  of 
Unrest  there  were  but  wranglings  and  discontent  and 
jealousy,  here  there  were  fierce  fights  and  bitter  quarrels. 
Here  were  gamblers  and  drunkards.  Betting  men,  card 
sharpers,  commercial  swindlers,  profligates,  and  thieves 
of  every  kind,  from  the  thief  of  the  slums  to  his  well- 
educated  counterpart  in  the  higher  circles  of  earth  life. 
All  whose  instincts  were  roguish  or  dissipated,  all  who 
were  selfish  and  degraded  in  their  tastes  were  here,  as  well 
as  many  who  would  have  been  in  a  higher  condition  of 
spiritual  life  had  not  constant  association  on  earth  with 
this  class  of  men  deteriorated  and  degraded  them  to  the 
level  of  their  companions,  so  that  at  death  they  had  gravi- 
tated to  this  dark  sphere,  drawn  down  by  ties  of  associa- 
tion. It  was  to  this  last  class  that  I  was  sent,  for  amongst 
them  there  was  hope  that  all  sense  of  goodness  and  right 
was  not  quenched,  and  that  the  voice  of  one  crying  to 
them  in  the  wilderness  of  their  despair  might  be  heard 
and  lead  them  back  to  a  better  land. 

The  wretched  houses  or  dwellings  of  this  dark  Land 
of  Misery  were  many  of  them  large  spacious  places,  but  all 
stamped  with  the  same  appalling  look  of  uncleanness, 
foulness  and  decay.  They  resembled  large  houses  to  be 
seen  in  some  of  our  slums,  once  handsome  mansions  and 
fine  palaces,  the  abodes  of  luxury,  which  have  become  the 
haunts  of  the  lowest  denizens  of  vice  and  crime.  Here 
and  there  would  be  great  lonely  tracts  of  country  with  a 


44      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

few  scattered  sketched  houses,  mere  hovels,  and  in  other 
places  the  buildings  and  the  people  were  huddled  together 
in  great  gloomy,  degraded-looking  copies  of  your  large 
eiiies  of  earth.  Everywhere  squalor  and  dirt  and 
wretchedness  reigned;  nowhere  was  there  one  single 
bright  or  beautiful  or  gracious  thing  for  the  eye  to  rest 
upon  in  all  this  scene  of  desolation,  made  thus  by  the 
spiritual  emanations  from  the  dark  beings  who  dwelt 
there. 

Amongst  these  wretched  inhabitants  I  wandered  with 
my  little  star  of  pure  light,  so  small  that  it  was  but  a 
bright  spark  flickering  about  in  the  darkness  as  1  moved, 
yet  around  me  it  shed  a  soft  pale  light  as  from  a  star  of 
hope  that  shone  for  those  not  too  blinded  by  their  own 
selfish  evil  passions  to  behold  it.  Here  and  there  I  would 
.come  upon  some  crouched  in  a  doorway  or  against  a  wall, 
or  in  some  miserable  room,  who  would  arouse  themselves 
sufficiently  to  look  at  me  with  my  light  and  listen  to  the 
words  I  spoke  to  them,  and  would  begin  to  seek  for  the 
better  way,  the  returning  path  to  those  upper  spheres 
from  which  they  had  fallen  by  their  sins.  Some  I  would 
be  able  to  induce  to  join  me  in  my  work  of  helping  others, 
but  as  a  rule  they  could  only  think  of  their  own  miseries, 
and  long  for  something  higher  than  their  present  sur- 
roundings, and  even  this,  small  as  it  seems,  was  one  step, 
and  the  next  one  of  thinking  how  to  help  others  forward 
as  well  would  soon  follow. 

One  day  in  my  wanderings  through  this  country  I 
came  to  the  outskirts  of  a  large  city  in  the  middle  of  a 
wide  desolate  plain.  The  soil  was  black  and  arid,  more 
like  those  great  cinder  heaps  that  are  seen  near  your  iron 
works  than  anything  I  can  liken  it  to.  I  was  amongst  a 
few  dilapidated,  tumble-down  little  cottages  that  formed 
a  sort  of  fringe  between  the  unhappy  city  and  the  desolate 
plain,  when  my  ears  caught  the  sound  of  quarreling  and 
shouting  coming  from  one  of  them,  and  curiosity  made 
me  draw  near  to  see  what  the  dispute  might  be  about  and 
if  even  here  there  might  not  be  someone  whom  I 
could  help. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      45 

It  was  more  like  a  barn  than  a  house.  A  great  rough 
table  ran  the  length  of  the  room,  and  round  it  upon 
coarse  little  wooden  stools  were  seated  about  a  dozen  or 
so  of  men.  Such  men!  It  is  almost  an  insult  to  manhood 
to  give  them  the  name.  They  were  more  like  orang- 
outangs, with  the  varieties  of  pigs  and  wolves  and  birds  of 
prey  expressed  in  their  coarse  bloated  distorted  features. 
Such  faces,  such  misshapen  bodies,  such  distorted  limbs, 
I  can  in  no  way  describe  them!  They  were  clothed  in 
various  grotesque  and  ragged  semblances  of  their  former 
earthly  finery,  some  in  the  fashion  of  centuries  ago,  others 
in  more  modern  garb,  yet  all  alike  ragged,  dirty,  and 
unkempt,  the  hair  disheveled,  the  eyes  wild  and  staring 
and  glowing  now  with  the  fierce  light  of  passion,  now  with 
the  sullen  fire  of  despair  and  vindictive  malice.  To  me, 
then,  it  seemed  that  I  had  reached  the  lowest  pit  of  hell, 
but  since  then  I  have  seen  a  region  lower  still — far 
blacker,  far  more  horrible,  inhabited  by  beings  so  much 
fiercer,  so  much  lower,  that  beside  them  these  were  tame 
and  human.  Later  on  I  shall  describe  more  fully  these 
lowest  beings,  when  I  come  to  that  part  of  my  wanderings 
which  took  me  into  their  kingdoms  in  the  lowest  hell,  but 
the  spirits  whom  I  now  saw  fighting  in  this  cottage  were 
quarreling  over  a  bag  of  coins  which  lay  on  the  table.  It 
had  been  found  by  one  of  them  and  then  given  to  be 
gambled  for  by  the  whole  party.  The  dispute  seemed  to 
be  because  each  wanted  to  take  possession  of  it  himself 
without  regard  to  the  rights  of  anyone  else  at  all.  It  was 
simply  a  question  of  the  strongest,  and  already  they  were 
menacing  each  other  in  a  violent  fashion.  The  finder  of 
the  money,  or  rather  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  our 
earthly  money,  was  a  young  man,  under  thirty  I  should 
say,  who  still  possessed  the  remains  of  good  looks,  and  but 
for  the  marks  that  dissipation  had  planted  on  his  face 
would  have  seemed  unfit  for  his  present  surroundings  and 
degraded  associates.  He  was  arguing  that  the  money  was 
his,  and  though  he  had  given  it  to  be  played  for  fairly  he 
objected  to  be  robbed  of  it  by  anyone.  I  felt  I  had  no 
business  there,  and  amidst  a  wild  chorus  of  indignant  cries 


46      A  WAtfDEfcEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

and  protestations  thai  they  "supposed  they  were  as  well 
able  to  say  what  was  honest  as  he  was.*'  1  turned  and  left 
them.  I  had  proceeded  hut  a  short  way,  and  was  almost 
opposite  another  deserted  little  hovel  when  the  whole  wild 
crew  came  struggling  and  fighting  out  of  the  cottage, 
wrestling  with  each  other  to  get  near  the  young  man  with 
the  bag  of  money  whom  the  foremost  of  them  were  beat- 
ing and  kicking  and  trying  to  deprive  of  it.  This  one  of 
them  succeeded  in  doing,  whereupon  they  all  set  upon 
him,  while  the  young  man  broke  away  from  them  and 
began  running  towards  me.  In  a  moment  there  was  a 
wild  yell  set  up  to  catch  him  and  beat  him  for  an  im- 
postor and  a  cheat,  since  the  bag  was  empty  of  gold  and 
had  only  stones  in  it,  the  money,  like  the  fairy  gold  in 
the  stories,  having  turned,  not  into  withered  leaves,  but 
into  hard  stones. 

Almost  before  I  realized  it  the  wretched  young  man 
was  clutching  hold  of  me  and  crying  out  to  me  to  save 
him  from  those  devils;  and  the  whole  lot  were  coming- 
down  upon  us  in  hot  pursuit  of  their  victim.  Quick  as 
thought  I  sprang  into  the  empty  hovel  which  gave  us  the 
only  hope  of  asylum,  dragging  the  unfortunate  young 
man  with  me.  and  slamming  the  door  I  planted  my  back 
against  it  to  keep  our  pursuers  out.  My  Goodness!  how 
they  did  yell  and  stamp  and  storm  and  try  to  batter  in 
that  door;  and  how  I  did  brace  nryself  up  and  exert  all 
the  force  of  mind  and  body  to  keep  them  out!  I  did  not 
know  it  then,  but  I  know  now  that  unseen  powers 
helped  me  and  held  fast  that  door  till,  baffled  and  angry 
that  they  could  not  move  it.  they  went  off  at  last  to  seek 
for  some  fresh  quarrel  or  excitement  elsewhere. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      47 


CHAPTER  VII. 

When  they  had  gone  I  turned  to  my  companion  who 
sat  huddled  in  a  heap,  and  almost  stunned,  in  one  corner 
of  the  hut,  and,  helping  him  to  rise,  I  suggested  that  if  he 
could  make  shift  to  walk  a  little,  it  would  he  well  for  us 
hoth  to  leave  the  place  in  case  those  men  should  think  fit 
to  return.  With  much  pain  and  trouble  I  got  him  up  and 
helped  him  slowly  to  a  place  of  safety  on  the  dark  plain 
where,  if  we  were  without  shelter,  we  were  at  least  free 
from  the  danger  of  being  surrounded.  Then  I  did  my 
best  to  relieve  his  sufferings  by  methods  I  had  learned 
during  my  stay  in  the  House  of  Hope,  and  after  a  time  the 
poor  fellow  was  able  to  speak  and  tell  about  himself  and 
how  he  came  to  be  in  that  dark  country.  He  was,  it 
seemed,  but  recently  from  earth  life,  having  been  shot  by 
a  man  who  was  jealous  of  his  attentions  to  his  wife,  and 
not  without  reason.  The  one  redeeming  feature  about 
this-poor  spirit's  story  was  that  he,  poor  soul,  did  not  feel 
any  anger  or  desire  for  revenge  upon  the  man  who  had 
hurried  him  out  of  life,  but  only  sorrow  and  shame  for  it 
all.  What  had  hurt  him  most  and  had  opened  his  eyes  to 
his  degradation,  was  the  discovery  that  the  woman  for 
whose  love  it  had  all  been  done,  was  so  callous,  so  selfish, 
so  devoid  of  all  true  sense  of  love  for  either  of  them,  that 
she  was  only  occupied  in  thinking  how  it  would  affect 
herself  and  her  social  position  in  the  world  of  fashion,  and 
not  one  thought,  save  of  anger  and  annoyance,  had  she 
given  to  either  her  unhappy  husband  or  the  victim  of  his 
jealous  anger. 

"When/'  said  the  young  man,  whom  I  shall  call 


48       A  AYAXDEEKR  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

Kaoul,  "when  I  knew  that  1  was  truly  dead  and  yet 
possessed  the  power  to  return  to  earth  again,  my  first 
thought  was  to  fly  to  her  and  console  her  if  possible,  or  at 
least  make  her  feel  that  the  dead  yet  lived,  and  that  even 
in  death  I  thought  of  her.  And  how  do  you  think  I 
found  her?  "Weeping  for  me?  Sorrowing  for  him?  No! 
not  one  atom.  Only  thinking  of  herself  and  wishing  she 
had  never  seen  us,  or  that  she  could  blot  us  both  out  from 
her  life  by  one  coup-dc-main,  and  begin  life  again  with 
someone  else  higher  in  the  social  scale  than  either  of  us 
had  been.  The  scales  fell  from  my  eyes,  and  I  knew  she 
had  never  loved  me  one  particle.  But  I  was  rich,  I  was 
of  the  noblesse,  and  through  my  help  she  had  hoped  to 
climb  another  rung  of  the  social  ladder,  and  had  willingly 
sunk  herself  into  an  adulteress,  not  for  love  of  me,  but  to 
gain  the  petty  triumph  of  queening  it  over  some  rival 
woman.  I  was  nothing  but  a  poor  blind  fool,  and  my  life 
had  paid  the  penalty  of  my  folly.  To  her  I  was  but  an 
unpleasant  memory  of  the  bitter  shame  and  scandal  that 
had  fallen  upon  her.  Then  I  fled  from  earth  in  my 
bitterness,  anywhere,  I  cared  not  where  it  was.  I  said 
I  would  believe  no  more  in  goodness  or  truth  of  any  kind, 
and  my  wild  thoughts  and  desires  drew  me  down  to  this 
dark  spot  and  these  degraded  revellers,  amongst  whom  I 
found  kindred  spirits  to  those  who  had  been  my  parasites 
and  flatterers  on  earth,  and  amongst  whom  I  had  wasted 
my  substance  and  lost  my  soul." 

"And  now,  oh!  unhappy  friend,"  I  said,  "would  you 
not  even  now  seek  the  path  of  repentance  that  would  lead 
you  back  to  brighter  lands  and  help  you  to  regain  the  lost 
inheritance  of  your  manhood  and  your  higher  self?" 

"Now,  alas!  it  is  too  late,"  said  Raoul.  "In  hell,  and 
surely  this  is  hell,  there  is  no  longer  hope  for  any." 

"No  hope  for  any?"  I  answered.  "Say  not  so,  my 
friend;  those  words  are  heard  all  too  often  from  the  lips 
of  unhappy  souls,  for  I  can  testify  that  even  in  the 
darkest  despair  there  is  ever  given  hope.  I,  too,  have 
known  a  sorrow  and  a  bitterness  as  deep  as  yours;  yet  1 
had  ever  hope,  for  she  whom  I  loved  was  as  the  pure 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      49 

angels,  and  her  hands  were  ever  stretched  out  to  give  me 
love  and  hope,  and  for  her  sake  I  work  to  give  to  others 
the  hope  given  to  myself.  Come,  let  me  lead  you  and  I 
will  guide  you  to  that  better  land." 

"And  who  art  thou,  oh!  friend,  with  the  kind  words 
and  still  kinder  deeds  to  whom  in  truth  I  might  say  I 
owed  my  life;  but  had  I  not  learned  that  in  this  place, 
alas!  one  cannot  die — one  can  suffer  to  the  point  of  death 
and  even  all  its  pains,  yet  death  comes  not  to  any,  for  we 
have  passed  beyond  it,  and  it  would  seem  must  live 
through  an  eternity  of  suffering?  Tell  me  who  you  are 
and  how  you  come  to  be  here,  speaking  words  of  hope  with 
such  confidence.  I  might  fancy  you  an  angel  sent  down 
to  help  me,  but  that  you  resemble  myself  too  much 
for  that." 

Then  I  told  him  my  history,  and  how  I  was  working 
myself  upwards  even  as  he  might  do,  and  also  spoke  of  the 
great  hope  I  had  always  before  me,  that  in  time  I  should 
be  fit  to  join  my  sweet  love  in  a  land  where  we  should  be 
no  more  parted. 

"And  she?"  he  said,  "is  content,  you  think,  to  wait 
for  you?  She  will  spend  all  her  life  lonely  on  earth  that 
she  may  join  you  in  heaven  when  you  shall  get  there? 
Bah!  mon  ami,  you  deceive  yourself.  It  is  a  mirage  that 
you  pursue.  Unless  she  is  either  old  or  very  plain,  no 
woman  will  dream  of  living  forever  alone  for  your  sake. 
She  will  for  a  time,  I  grant  you,  if  she  is  romantic,  or  if 
no  one  come  to  woo  her,  but  unless  she  is  an  angel  she 
will  console  herself  by  and  by,  believe  me.  If  your  hopes 
are  no  more  well  founded  than  that  I  shall  feel  only 
sorry  for  you." 

I  confess  his  words  angered  me  somewhat;  they 
echoed  the  doubts-  that  always  haunted  me,  and  were  like 
a  cold  shower  bath  upon  all  the  warmth  of  romance  with 
which  I  had  buoyed  myself  up.  It  was  partly  to  satisfy 
my  own  doubts  as  well  as  his  that  I  said,  with  some  heat: 

"If  I  take  you  to  earth  and  we  find  her  mourning 
only  for  me,  thinking  only  of  me,  will  you  believe  then 
that  I  know  what  I  speak  about  and  am  under  no  de- 


50       A  WANDERER  ] X  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

lusion?  Will  you  admit  that  your  experience  of  life  and 
of  women  may  not  apply  to  all,  ami  that  there  is  some- 
thing that  even  you  can  learn  on  this  as  on  other 
matters?" 

"My  good  friend,  believe  me  that  I  ask  your  pardon 
with  all  my  soul  if  my  unbelief  has  pained  you.  I  admire 
3rour  faith  and  would  I  could  have  but  a  little  of  it  myself. 
]>y  all  means  let  us  go  and  see  her." 

I  took  his  hand,  and  then  "willing"  intently  that  we 
should  go  to  my  beloved,  we  began  to  rise  and  rush 
.  through  space  with  the  speed  of  thought  almost,  till  wo 
found  ourselves  upon  earth  and  standing  in  a  room.  I 
saw  her  guardian  spirit  watching  over  my  beloved,  and 
the  dim  outline  of  the  room  and  its  furniture,  but  my 
friend  Raoul  saw  nothing  but  the  form  of  my  darling 
seated  in  her  chair,  and  looking  like  some  of  the  saints 
■  from  the  brightness  of  her  spirit  and  the  pale  soft  aureole 
of  light  that  surrounded  her,  a  spiritual  light  invisible  to 
you  of  earth  but  seen  by  those  on  the  spiritual  side  of  life 
around  those  whose  lives  are  good  and  pure,  just  as  a 
dark  mist  surrounds  those  who  are  not  good. 

"Mon  Dieu!"  cried  Raoul,  sinking  upon  his  knees  at 
her  feet.  "It  is  an  angel,  a  saint  you  have  brought  me  to 
see,  not  a  woman.     She  is  not  of  earth  at  all." 

Then  I  spoke  to  her  by  name,  and  she  heard  my 
voice  and  her  face  brightened  and  the  sadness  vanished 
from  it,  and  she  said  softly:  "My  dearest,  are  you  indeed 
there?  I  was  longing  for  you  to  come  again.  I  can 
think  and  dream  of  nothing  but  you.  Can  you  touch  me 
yet?"  She  put  out  her  hand  and  for  one  brief  moment 
mine  rested  in  it,  but  even  that  moment  made  her  shiver 
as  though  an  icy  wind  had  struck  her. 

"See,  my  darling  one,  I  have  brought  an  unhappy 
friend  to  ask  your  prayers.  And  I  would  have  him  to 
know  that  there  are  some  faithful  women  on  earth— some 
true  love  to  bless  us  with  were  we  but  fit  to  enjoy  it." 

She  had  not  heard  clearly  all  that  I  said,  but  her 
mind  caught  its  sense,  and  she  smiled,  so  radiant  a  smile, 
and  said:  "Oh!  yes,  I  am  ever  faithful  to  you,  my  beloved, 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       51 

as  you  are  to  me,  and  some  day  we  shall  be  so  very,  very 
happy." 

Then  Raoul  who  was  still  kneeling  before  her,  held 
out  his  hands  and  tried  to  touch  hers,  but  the  invisible 
wall  kept  him  away  as  it  had  done  me,  and  he  drew  back, 
crying  out  to  her:  "If  your  heart  is  so  full  of  love  and 
pity,  spare  some  to  me  who  am  indeed  unhappy  and  need 
your  prayers.  Pray  that  I,  too,  may  be  helped,  and  I  shall 
know  your  prayers  are  heard  where  mine  were  not 
worthy  to  be,  and  I  shall  hope  that  even  for  me  pardon 
may  yet  be  possible." 

My  darling  heard  the  words  of  this  unhappy  man, 
and  kneeling  down  beside  her  chair  offered  up  a  little 
simple  prayer  for  help  and  comfort  to  us  all.  And  Raoul 
was  so  touched,  so  softened,  that  he  broke  down  com- 
pletely, and  I  had  to  take  him  by  the  hand  and  lead  him 
Back  to  the  spirit  land,  though  not  now  to  a  region  devoid 
of  hope. 

From  that  time  Raoul  and  I  worked  together  for  a 
little  in  the  dark  land  he  had  now  ceased  to  dwell  in,  and 
from  day  to  day  he  grew  more  hopeful.  By  nature  he 
was  most  vivacious  and  buoyant,  a  true  Frenchman,  full 
of  airy  graceful  lightness  of  heart  which  even  the  awful 
surroundings  of  that  gloomy  spot  could  not  wholly 
extinguish.  "We  became  great  friends,  and  our  work  was 
pleasanter  from  being  shared.  Our  companionship  was, 
however,  not  destined  to  last  long  then,  but  we  have  since 
met  and  worked  together  many  times,  like  comrades  in 
different  regiments  whom  the  chances  of  war  may  bring 
together  or  separate  at  any  time. 


52      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

I  was  again  called  upon  to  go  to  earth  upon  a  mission 
of  help,  and  to  leave  for  a  time  my  wanderings  in  the 
spirit  spheres;  and  now  it  was  that  the  greatest  and  most 
terrible  temptation  of  my  life  came  to  me.  In  the  course 
of  my  work  I  was  brought  across  one  still  in  the  earth 
body,  whose  influence  over  my  earthly  life  had  done  more 
than  aught  else  to  wreck  and  spoil  it,  and  though  I  also 
had  not. been  blameless — far  indeed  from  it — yet  I  could 
not  but  feel  an  intense  bitterness  and  thirst  for  revenge 
whenever  I  thought  of  this  person  and  all  the  wrongs  that 
1  had  suffered — wrongs  brooded  over  till  at  times  I  felt 
as  if  my  feelings  must  have  vent  in  some  wild  burst  of 
passionate  resentment. 

In  my  wanderings  upon  the  earth  plane  I  had  learned 
many  ways  in  which  a  spirit  can  still  work  mischief  to 
those  he  hates  who  are  yet  in  the  flesh.  Far  more  power 
is  ours  than  you  would  dream  of,  but  I  feel  it  is  wiser  to 
let  the  veil  rest  still  upon  the  possibilities  the  world  holds 
even  after  death  for  the  revengeful  spirit.  I  could  detail 
many  terrible  cases  I  know  of  as  having  actually  taken 
place — mysterious  murders  and  strange  crimes  committed, 
none  knew  why  or  how,  by  those  on  earth  whose  brains 
were  so  disordered  that  they  were  not  themselves 
responsible  for  their  actions,  and  were  but  the  tools  of  a 
possessing  spirit.  These  and  many  kindred  things  are 
known  to  us  in  the  spirit  spheres  where  circumstances 
often  wear  a  very  different  aspect  from  the  one  shown  to 
you.  The  old  beliefs  in  demoniacal  possession  were  not 
so  visionary  after  all,  only  these  demons  or  devils  had 
themselves  been  once  the  denizens  of  earth. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      53 

It  so  happened  to  me  then,  that  when  I  came  once 
more,  after  long  years  of  absence,  across  this  person  whom 
I  so  hated,  all  my  old  feelings  of  suffering  and  anger 
revived,  but  with  tenfold  more  force  than  is  possible  in 
earth  life,  for  a  spirit  has  far,  far  greater  capabilities  of 
suffering  or  enjoyments,  of  pleasure  or  pain,  love  or  hate, 
than  one  whose  senses  are  still  veiled  and  deadened  by  the 
earthly  envelope,  and  thus  all  the  senses  of  a  disembodied 
spirit  are  tenfold  more  acute. 

Thus  when  I  once  more  found  myself  beside  this 
person,  the  desire  for  my  long-suspended  revenge  woke 
again,  and  with  the  desire  a  most  devilish  plan  for  its 
accomplishment  suggested  itself  to  me.  For  my  desire  of 
vengeance  drew  up  to  me  from  their  haunts  in  the  lowest 
hell,  spirits  of  so  black  a  hue,  so  awful  a  type,  that  never 
before  had  I  seen  such  beings  or  dreamed  that  out  of 
some  nightmare  fable  they  could  exist.  These  beings 
cannot  live  upon  the  earth  plane  nor  even  in  the  lower 
spheres  surrounding  it,  unless  there  be  congenial  mortals 
or  some  strong  magnetic  attraction  to  hold  them  there 
for  a  time,  and  though  they  often  rise  in  response  to  an 
intensely  evil  desire  upon  the  part  of  either  a  mortal  or 
spirit  on  the  earth  plane,  yet  they  cannot  remain  long, 
and  the  moment  the  attracting  force  becomes  weakened, 
like  a  rope  that  breaks,  they  lose  their  hold  and  sink  down 
again  to  their  own  dark  abodes.  At  times  of  great 
popular  indignation  and  anger,  as  in  some  great  revolt  of 
an  oppressed  people  in  whom  all  sense  but  that  of  suffer- 
ing and  anger  has  been  crushed  out,  the  bitter  wrath  and 
thirst  for  revenge  felt  by  the  oppressed  will  draw  around 
them  such  a  cloud  of  these  dark  beings,  that  horrors 
similar  to  those  witnessed  in  the  great  French  Revolution 
and  kindred  revolts  of  down-trodden  people,  will  take 
place,  and  the  maddened  populace  are  for  a  time  com- 
pletely under  the  control  of  those  spirits  who  are  truly 
as  devils. 

In  my  case  these  horrible  beings  crowded  round  me 
with  delight,  whispered  in  my  ears  and  pointed  out  a  way 
of  revenge  so  simple,  so  easy,  and  yet  so  horrible,  so 


5 1      \  wa n i >i:i; i:k  in  the  spirit  lands. 

appalling  in  its  wickedness,  that  I  shall  not  venture  to 
write  it  down  lest  the  idea  of  it  might  be  given  to  some 
other  desperate  one,  and  like  seed  Calling  into  a  fruitful 
soil  bring  forth  its  baleful  blossoms. 

At  any  other  time  I  should  have  shrunk  hack  in 
horror  from  these  beings  and  their  foul  suggestions. 
Now  in  my  mad  passion  I  welcomed  them  and  was  about 
to  invoke  their  aid  to  help  me  to  accomplish  my  ven- 
geance, when  like  the  tones  of  a  silver  bell  there  fell  upon 
my  ears  the  voice  of  my  beloved,  to  whose  pleadings  I  was 
never  deaf  and  whose  tones  could  move  me  as  none  else 
could.  The  voice  summoned  me  to  come  to  her  by  all 
that  we  both  held  sacred,  by  all  the  vows  we  had  made 
and  all  the  hopes  we  had  cherished,  and  though  I  could 
not  so  instantly  abandon  my  revenge,  yet  I  was  drawn  as 
by  a  rope  to  the  one  I  loved  from  the  one  I  hated. 

And  the  whole  wild  crew  of  black  devils  came  with 
me,  clinging  to  me  and  trying  to  hold  me  back,  yet  with 
an  ever  feebler  hold  as  the  voice  of  love  and  purity  and 
truth  penetrated  more  and  more  deeply  to  my  heart. 

And  then  I  saw  my  beloved  standing  in  her  room, 
her  arms  stretched  out  to  draw  me  to  her,  and  two  strong 
bright  spirit  guardians  by  her  side,  while  around  her  was 
drawn  a  circle  of  flaming  silver  light  as  though  a  wall  of 
lightning  encircled  her;  yet  at  her  call  I  passed  through  it, 
and  stood  at  her  side. 

The  dark  crowd  sought  to  follow,  but  were  kept  back 
by  the  flaming  ring.  One  of  the  boldest  made  a  rush  at 
me  as  I  passed  through,  and  tried  to  catch  hold,  but  his 
hand  and  arm  were  caught  by  the  flame  of  light  and 
shriveled  up  as  though  thrust  into  a  furnace.  With  a 
yell  of  pain  and  rage  he  drew  back  amidst  a  wild  howl  of 
derisive  laughter  from  the  rest. 

With  all  the  power  of  her  love  my  darling  pleaded 
with  me  that  I  should  give  up  this  terrible  idea,  and 
promise  her  nevermore  to  yield  to  so  base  a  thought.  She 
asked  me  if  I  loved  my  revenge  so  much  better  than  I 
loved  her,  that  to  gratify  it  I  would  raise  up  between  us 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       55 

the  insurmountable  barrier  of  my  meditated  crime?  Was 
her  love  indeed  so  little  to  me  after  all? 

At  first  I  would  not,  could  not  yield,  but  at  last  she 
began  to  weep,  and  then  my  heart  melted  as  though  her 
tears  had  been  warm  drops  of  her  heart's  blood  falling  on 
it  to  thaw  its  ice,  and  in  bitter  anguish  of  soul  that  I 
should  have  caused  her  to  shed  tears  I  knelt  at  her  feet 
and  prayed  to  be  forgiven  my  wicked  thought — prayed 
that  I  might  still  be  left  with  her  love  to  cheer  me,  still 
with  her  for  my  one  thought,  one  hope,  my  all.  And  as 
I  prayed  the  circle  of  dark  spirits,  who  had  been  fighting 
to  get  in  and  beckoning  to  me  and  trying  to  draw  me  out, 
broke  like  a  cloud  of  black  mist  when  the  wind  scatters  it, 
and  they  sank  away  down  to  their  own  abode  again,  while 
I  sank  exhausted  at  my  darling's  feet. 

At  times  after  this  I  saw  the  dark  spirits  draw  near 
to  me,  though  never  again  could  they  come  close,  for  I 
had  an  armor  in  my  darling's  love  and  my  promise  to  her 
which  was  proof  against  all  their  attacks. 


5G       A  VYAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

I  was  next  sent  to  visit  what  will  indeed  seem  a 
strange  country  to  exist  in  the  spirit  world.  The  Land 
of  lee  and  Snow — the  Frozen  Land — in  which  lived  all 
those  who  had  been  cold  and  selfishly  calculating  in  their 
earthly  lives.  Those  who  had  crushed  out  and  chilled 
and  frozen  from  their  own  lives  and  the  lives  of  others,  all 
those  warm  sweet  impulses  and  affections  which  make  the 
life  of  heart  and  soul.  Love  had  been  so  crushed  and 
killed  by  them  that  its  sun  could  not  shine  where  they 
were,  and  only  the  frost  of  life  remained. 

Great  statesmen  were  amongst  those  whom  I  saw 
dwelling  in  this  land,  but  they  were  those  who  had  not 
loved  their  country  nor  sought  its  good.  Only  their  own 
ambitions,  their  own  aggrandizement  had  been  their  aim, 
and  to  me  they  now  appeared  to  dwell  in  great  palaces  of 
ice  and  on  the  lofty  frozen  pinnacles  of  their  own  am- 
bitions. Others  more  humble  and  in  different  paths  in 
life  I  saw,  but  all  alike  were  chilled  and  frozen  by  the 
awful  coldness  and  barrenness  of  a  life  from  which  all 
warmth,  all  passion,  was  shut  out.  I  had  learned  the 
evils  of  an  excess  of  emotion  and  of  passion,  now  I  saw 
the  evils  of  their  entire  absence.  Thank  God  this  land 
had  far  fewer  inhabitants  than  the  other,  for  terrible  as 
are  the  effects  of  mis-used  love,  they  are  not  so  hard  to 
overcome  as  the  absence  of  all  the  tender  feelings  of  the 
human  heart. 

There  were  men  here  who  had  been  prominent  mem- 
bers of  every  religious  faith  and  every  nationality  on  your 
earth.     Roman  Catholic  cardinals  and  priests  of  austere 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       57 

and  pious  but  cold  and  selfish  lives,  Puritan  preachers, 
Methodist  ministers,  Presbyterian  divines.  Church  of 
England  bishops  and  clergymen,  missionaries,  Brahmin 
priests,  Parsees,  Egyptians,  Mohammedans — in  sbort  all 
sorts  and  all  nationalities  were  to  be  found  in  the  Frozen 
Laud,  yet  in  scarcely  one  was  there  enough  warmth  of 
feeling  to  thaw  the  ice  around  themselves  even  in  a  small 
degree.  When  there  was  even  a  little  tiny  drop  of 
warmth,  such  as  one  tear  of  sorrow,  then  the  ice  began  to 
melt  and  there  was  hope  for  that  poor  soul. 

There  was  one  man  whom  I  saw  who  appeared  to  be 
enclosed  in  a  cage  of  ice;  tbe  liars  were  of  ice,  yet  they 
were  as  bars  of  polished  steel  for  strength.  This  man  had 
been  one  of  the  Grand  Inquisitors  of  the  Inquisition  in 
Venice,  and  had  been  one  of  those  whose  very  names  sent 
terror  to  the  heart  of  any  unfortunate  who  fell  into  their 
clutches;  a  most  celebrated  name  in  history,  yet  in  all  the 
records  of  his  life  and  acts  there  was  not  one  instance 
where  one  shade  of  pity  for  his  victims  had  touched  his 
heart  and  caused  him  to  turn  aside,  even  for  one  brief- 
moment,  from  his  awful  determination  in  torturing  and 
killing  those  whom  the  Inquisition  got  into  its  toils.  A 
man  known  for  his  own  hard  austere  life,  which  had  no 
more  indulgence  for  himself  than  for  others.  Cold  and 
pitiless,  he  knew  not  what  it  was  to  feel  one  answering 
throb  awake  in  his  heart  for  another's  sufferings.  His 
face  was  a  type  of  cold  unemotional  cruelty:  the  long  thin 
high  nose,  the  pointed  sharp  chin,  the  high  and  rather 
wide  cheek  bones,  the  thin  straight  cruel  lips  like  a  thin 
line  across  the  face,  the  head  somewhat  flat  and  wdde  over 
the  ears,  wdiile  the  deep-set  penetrating  eyes  glittered 
from  their  penthouse  brows  with  the  cold  steely  glitter 
of  a  wild  beast's. 

Like  a  procession  of  spectres  I  saw  the  wraiths  of 
some  of  this  man's  many  victims  glide  past  him,  maimed 
and  crushed,  torn  and  bleeding  from  their  tortures — 
pallid  ghosts,  wandering  astral  shades,  from  which  the 
souls  had  departed  forever,  but  which  yet  clung  around 
this  man,  unable  to  decay  into  the  elements  whilst  his 


58      A  W  A  N  I » I-.  1 1 E 1 1  I  X  T  HE  SPIRIT  LA  X  DS. 

magnetism  attached  them,  like  a  chain,  to  him.  The 
souls  and  all  the  higher  elements  had  forever  left  those — 
which  were  true  astral  shells — yet  they  possessed  a  certain 
amount  of  vitality — only  it  was  all  drawn  from  this  man, 
not  from  the  released  spirits  which  had  once  inhabited 
them.  They  were  such  things  as  those  ghosts  are  made 
of  winch  arc  seen  haunting  the  spot  where  some  one  too 
good  and  innocent  to  be  so  chained  to  earth,  has  been 
murdered.  They  seem  to  their  murderers  and  others  to 
live  and  haunt  them,  yet  the  life  of  such  astrals  (or  ghosts) 
is  but  a  reflected  one,  and  ceases  as  soon  as  remorse  and 
repentance  have  sufficed  to  sever  the  tie  that  links  them 
to  their  murderers. 

Other  spirits  I  saw  haunting  this  man,  and  taunting 
him  with  his  own  helplessness  and  their  past  sufferings, 
but  these  were  very  different  looking;  they  were  more 
"solid  in  appearance  and  possessed  a  power  and  strength 
and  intelligence  wanting  in  those  other  misty-looking 
shades.  These  were  spirits  wThose  astral  forms  still  held 
the  immortal  souls  imprisoned  in  them,  though  they  had 
been  so  crushed  and  tortured  that  only  the  fierce  desire  of 
revenge  remained.  These  spirits  were  incessant  in  their 
endeavor  to  get  at  their  former  oppressor  and  tear  him  to 
pieces,  and  the  icy  cage  seemed  to  be  regarded  bjr  him  as 
being  as  much  a  protection  from  them  as  a  prison  for 
himself.  One  more  clever  than  the  rest  had  constructed 
a  long,  sharp-pointed  pole  which  he  thrust  through  the 
bars  to  prod  at  the  man  within,  and  wonderful  wras  the 
activity  he  displayed  in  trying  to  avoid  its  sharp  point. 
Others  had  sharp  short  javelins  which  they  hurled 
through  the  bars  at  him.  Others  again  squirted  foul, 
slimy  water,  and  at  times  the  wdiole  crowd  would  combine 
in  trying  to  hurl  themselves  en  masse  upon  the  sheltering 
bars  to  break  through,  but  in  vain.  The  wretched  man 
within,  whom  long  experience  had  taught  the  impreg- 
nability of  his  cage,  would  taunt  them  in  return  with  a 
cold  crafty  enjoyment  of  their  fruitless  efforts. 

To  my  mental  query  as  to  whether  this  man  was  ever 
released,  an  answer  was  given  to  me  by  that  majestic  spirit 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      59 

whose  voice  I  had  heard  at  rare  times  speaking  to  me, 
from  the  time  when  I  heard  it  first  at  my  own  grave.  On 
various  occasions  when  I  had  asked  for  help  or  knowledge, 
this  spirit  had  spoken  to  me,  as  now,  from  a  distance,  his 
voice  sounding  to  me  as  the  voice  spoken  of  by  the 
prophets  of  old  when  they  thought  the  Lord  spoke  to 
them  in  the  thunder.  This  voice  rang  in  my  ears  with  its 
full  deep  tones,  yet  neither  the  imprisoned  spirit  nor 
those  haunting  him  heard  it;  their  ears  were  deaf  so  that 
they  could  not  hear,  and  their  eyes  blind  so  that  they 
could  not  see. 

And  to  me  the  voice  said:  "Son,  behold  the  thoughts 
of  this  man  for  one  brief  moment — see  how  he  would  use 
liberty  were  it  his." 

And  I  saw,  as  one  sees  images  reflected  in  a  mirror, 
the  mind  of  this  man.  First  the  thought  that  he  could 
get  free,  and  when  once  free  he  could  force  himself  back 
to  earth  and  the  earth  plane,  and  once  there  he  could  find 
some  still  in  the  flesh  whose  aspirations  and  ambitions 
were  like  his  own,  and  through  their  help  he  would  forge 
a  still  stronger  yoke  as  of  iron  to  rivet  upon  men's  necks, 
and  found  a  still  crueller  tyranny — a  still  more  pitiless 
Inquisition,  if  that  were  possible,  which  should  crush  out 
the  last  remnant  of  liberty  left  to  its  oppressed  victims. 
He  knew  he  would  sway  a  power  far  greater  than  his 
earthly  power,  since  he  "would  work  with  hands  and  brain 
freed  from  all  earthly  fetters,  and  would  be  able  to  call 
up  around  him  kindred  spirits,  fellow  workers  with  souls 
as  cruel  and  cold  as  his  awn.  He  seemed  to  revel  in  the 
thought  of  the  fresh  oppressions  he  could  plan,  and  took 
pride  to  himself  in  the  recollection  that  he  had  ever 
listened  unmoved  to  the  shrieks  and  groans  and  prayers 
of  the  victims  he  had  tortured  to  death.  From  the  love 
of  oppression  and  for  his  own  relentless  ambition  had  he 
worked,  making  the  aggrandizement  of  his  order  but  the 
pretext  for  his  actions,  and  in  no  single  atom  of  his  hard 
soul  was  there  awakened  one  spark  of  pity  or  remorse. 
Such  a  man  set  free  to  return  to  earth  would  be  a  source 
of  danger  far  more  deadly  than  the  most  fierce  wild  beast, 


GO      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

since  his  powers  would  be  far  less  limited.  lie  did  not 
know  that  his  vaunted  Inquisition,  which  he  still  sought 
io  strengthen  in  all  its  deadly  powers,  had  become  a  thing 
of  the  past,  swept  away  from  the  face  of  God's  earth  by  a 
power  far  mightier  than  any  he  could  wield;  and  that,  like 
the  dark  and  terrible  age  in  which  it  had  sprung  up  like 
a  noisome  growth,  it  had  gone  nevermore  to  return — 
thank  God! — never  again  to  disgrace  humanity  by  the 
crimes  committed  in  the  name  of  him  who  came  only  to 
preach  peace  and  love  on  earth — gone,  with  its  traces  and 
its  scars  left  yet  upon  the  human  mind  in  its  shaken  and 
broken  trust  in  a  God  and  an  immortality.  The  recoil  of 
that  movement  which  at  last  swept  away  the  Inquisition 
is  yet  felt  on  earth,  and  long  years  must  pass  before  all 
which  was  good  and  pure  and  true  and  had  survived 
throughout  even  those  dark  ages  shall  reassert  its  power 
"and  lead  men  back  to  their  faith  in  a  God  of  Love,  not  a 
God  of  Horrors,  as  those  oppressors  painted  him. 

From  this  Frozen  Land  I  turned  away  chilled  and 
saddened.  I  did  not  care  to  linger  there  or  explore  its 
secrets,  though  it  may  be  that  again  at  some  future  time 
I  may  visit  it.  I  felt  that  there  was  nothing  I  could  do 
in  that  land,  none  I  could  understand,  and  they  but  froze 
and  revolted  me  without  my  doing  them  any  good. 

On  my  way  back  from  the  Frozen  Land  to  the  Land 
of  Twilight,  I  passed  a  number  of  vast  caverns  called  the 
"Caverns  of  Slumber,"  wherein  lay  a  great  multitude  of 
spirits  in  a  state  of  complete  stupor,  unconscious  of  all 
around  them.  These,  I  learned,  were  the  spirits  of 
mortals,  who  had  killed  themselves  with  opium  eating  and 
smoking,  and  whose  spirits  had  thus  been  deprived  of  all 
chance  of  development,  and  so  had  retrograded  instead  of 
advancing  and  growing — just  as  a  limb  tied  up  and 
deprived  of  motion  withers  away — and  now  they  were 
feebler  than  an  unborn  infant,  and  as  little  able  to 
possess  conscious  life. 

In  many  cases  their  sleep  would  last  for  centuries;  in 
others,  where  the  indulgence  in  the  drug  had  been  less,  it 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.       61 

might  only  last  for  twenty,  fifty,  or  a  hundred  years. 
These  spirits  lived,  and  that  was  all,  their  senses  being 
little  more  developed  than  those  of  some  fungus  growth 
which  exists  without  one  spark  of  intelligence;  yet  in 
them  the  soul  germ  still  lingered,  imprisoned  like  a  tiny 
seed  in  the  wrapping  of  some  Egyptian  mummy,  which, 
long  as  it  may  lie  thus,  is  yet  alive,  and  will  in  a  kindly 
soil  sprout  forth  at  last.  These  caverns,  in  which  kind 
spirit  hands  had  laid  them,  were  full  of  life-giving 
magnetism,  and  a  number  of  attendant  spirits  who  had 
themselves  passed  through  a  similar  state  from  opium 
poisoning  in  their  own  earth  lives,  were  engaged  in  giving 
what  life  they  could  pour  into  these  comatose  spirit  bodies 
which  lay  like  rows  of  dead  people  all  over  the  floor. 

By  slow  degrees,  according  as  the  spirit  had  been 
more  or  less  injured  by  the  drug  taken  in  the  earthly  life, 
these  wretched  beings  would  awake  to  consciousness  and 
all  the  sufferings  experienced  by  the  opium  eater  when 
deprived  of  his  deadly  drug.  By  long  and  slow  degrees 
the  poor  spirits  would  awaken,  sense  by  sense,  till  at  last 
like  feeble  suffering  children  they  would  become  fit  for 
instruction,  when  they  would  be  sent  to  institutions  like 
your  idiot  asylums,  where  the  dawning  intellect  would  be 
trained  and  helped  to  develop,  and  those  faculties  re- 
covered which  had  been  all  but  destroyed  in  the  earth  life. 

These  poor  souls  would  only  learn  very  slowly, 
because  they  had  to  try  to  learn  now,  without  the  aids  of 
the  earthly  life,  those  lessons  which  it  had  been  designed 
to  teach.  Like  drunkards  (only  more  completely)  they 
had  paralyzed  brain  and  senses  and  had  avoided,  not 
learned,  the  lessons  of  the  earthly  life  and  its  development 
of  the  spirit. 

To  me  these  Caves  of  Slumber  were  inexpressibly 
sad  to  behold — not  less  so  that  those  wretched  slum- 
berers  were  unconscious  for  so  long  of  the  valuable  time 
they  lost  in  their  dreamless,  hopeless  sleep  of  stagnation. 

Like  the  hare  in  the  fable,  while  they  slept  others 
less  swift  won  the  race,  and  these  poor  souls  might  try  in 


62      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

vain  through  countless  ages  to  recover  the  time  which 
they  had  lost. 

Y\  hen  these  slumherers  shall  at  last  awake,  to  what 
a  fate  do  they  not  waken,  through  what  an  awful  path 
must  they  not  climb  to  reach  again  that  point  in  the  earth 
life  from  which  they  have  fallen!  Does  it  not  fill  our 
souls  with  horror  to  think  that  there  are  those  on  earth 
who  live,  and  pile  up  wealth  through  the  profits  made 
from  that  dreadful  trade  in  opium,  which  not  alone  de- 
stroys the  body,  but  would  seem  to  destroy  even  more 
fatally  the  soul,  till  one  would  despondently  ask  if  there 
be  indeed  hope  for  these  its  victims? 

These  awful  caves — these  terrible  stupefied  spirits — 
can  any  words  point  a  fate  more  fearful  than  theirs?  To 
awaken  at  last  with  the  intellects  of  idiots,  to  grow, 
through  hundreds  of  years,  back  at  last  to  the  possession 
of  the  mental  powers  of  children — not  of  grown  men  and 
women.  Slow,  slow,  must  be  their  development  even 
then,  for  unlike  ordinary  children  they  have  almost  lost 
the  power  to  grow,  and  take  many  generations  of  time  to 
learn  what  one  generation  on  earth  could  have  taught 
them.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  many  of  the  unhappy 
beings  when  they  have  attained  at  last  to  the  development 
of  infants,  are  sent  back  to  earth  to  be  reincarnated  in  an 
earthly  body,  that  they  may  enjoy  again  the  advantages 
they  have  misused  before.  But  of  this  I  only  know  by 
hearsay,  and  cannot  give  any  opinion  of  my  own  upon  its 
truth.  I  only  know  that  I  should  be  glad  to  think  of  any 
such  possibility  for  them  which  could  shorten  the  process 
of  development  or  help  them  to  regain  all  that  they 
had  lost. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      63 


CHAPTER  X. 

In  my  home  in  the  Twilight  Land  I  rested  now  for 
a  time,  stud}ring  to  learn  more  of  myself  and  the  powers 
I  had  within  me,  and  seeking  to  apply  the  lessons  I  had 
learned  in  my  wanderings.  My  chief  instructor  at  this 
time  was  a  man  like  myself  in  many  respects,  who  had 
lived  a  similar  life  on  earth  and  had  passed  through  the 
lower  spheres,  as  I  was  now  doing,  and  who  had  become 
a  dweller  in  a  bright  land  of  sunshine  from  which  he 
came  constantly  to  teach  and  help  those  of  the  Brother- 
hood who,  like  myself,  were  his  pupils. 

There  was  likewise  another  teacher  or  guide  whom  I 
sometimes  saw,  whose  influence  over  me  was  even 
greater,  and  from  whom  I  learned  many  strange  things, 
but  as  he  was  in  a  much  more  advanced  sphere  than  the 
other,  it  was  but  seldom  that  I  could  see  him  as  a  distinct 
personality.  His  teachings  came  to  me  more  as  mental 
suggestions  or  inspirational  discourses  in  answer  to  some 
questioning  thought  on  my  part.  This  spirit  I  shall  not 
now  describe  to  you,  as  at  this  time  of  my  sojourn  in  the 
Twilight  Land  I  saw  him  but  very  dimly,  and  only  clearly 
when  my  progression  had  carried  me  into  a  brighter  state. 

Though  this  man  was  not  fully  visible  to  me  I  was 
often  conscious  of  his  presence  and  his  aid,  and  when  later 
on  I  learned  that  he  had  been  my  principal  guardian  spirit 
during  my  earthly  life,  I  could  easily  trace  many  thoughts 
and  suggestions,  many  of  my  higher  aspirations,  to  his 
influence;  and  it  was  his  voice  that  had  so  often  spoken  to 
me  in  warning  or  in  comfort  when  I  struggled  on  almost 
overwhelmed  with  my  terrible  position  on  first  entering 


64      A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

the  spirit  world.  In  the  days  of  darkness  I  had  been 
faintly  conscious  of  his  form  flitting  in  and  out  of  my 
little  cell,  and  soothing  my  terrible  sufferings  with  his 
magnetism  and  his  wonderful  knowledge  and  power. 

On  returning  to  the  Twilight  Land  from  the  darker 
spheres  I  had  visited,  I  felt  almost  like  returning  to  a 
home,  for,  bare  and  shabby  as  my  room  looked,  and  small 
and  narrow  as  it  was,  it  yet  held  all  my  greatest  treasures : 
my  picture  mirror  in  which  I  could  see  my  beloved,  and 
the  rose,  and  the  letter  she  had  sent  to  me.  Moreover  I 
had  friends  there,  companions  in  misfortune  like  myself, 
and  though  we  were  as  a  rule  much  alone,  meditating 
upon  our  past  mistakes  and  their  lessons,  yet  at  times  it 
was  very  pleasant  to  have  one  friend  or  another  come  in 
to  see  you,  and  since  we  were  all  alike  men  who  had  dis- 
graced ourselves  by  our  earthly  lives  and  were  now  seeking 
to  follow  the  better  way,  there  was  even  in  that  a  bond  of 
sympathy.  Our  life,  could  I  make  you  fully  realize  it, 
would  indeed  seem  strange  to  you.  It  was  like  and  yet 
unlike  an  earthly  life.  For  instance,  we  ate  at  times  a 
simple  sort  of  food  provided  for  us,  it  would  seem,  by 
magic  whenever  we  felt  hungry,  but  often  for  a  week  at  a 
time  we  would  not  think  of  food,  unless  indeed  it  was  one 
of  us  who  had  been  fond  of  good  eating  on  earth,  and  in 
that  case  the  desire  would  be  much  more  frequent  and 
troublesome  to  satisfy.  For  myself  my  tastes  had  been 
somewhat  simple,  and  neither  eating  nor  drinking  had  in 
themselves  possessed  special  attractions  for  me. 

There  was  always  around  us  this  twilight,  which  was 
never  varied  with  dark  night  or  bright  day,  and  which 
was  most  especially  trying  to  me  in  its  monotony.  I  so 
love  light  and  sunshine.  To  me  it  was  ever  as  a  life- 
giving  bath.  I  had  been  born  in  a  land  of  earth  where  all 
is  sunshine  and  flowers. 

Then  although  we  usually  walked  about  this  building 
and  the  surrounding  country  much  as  you  do,  we  could 
float  a  little  at  will,  though  not  so  well  as  more  advanced 
spirits  do,  and  if  we  were  in  a  great  hurry  to  go  anywhere 


A  WAXDERER  Itf  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      65 

our  drills  seemed  to  carry  us  there  with  the  speed  almost 
of  thought. 

As  for  sleep,  we  could  spend  long  intervals  without 
feeling  its  need,  or,  again,  we  could  lie  and  sleep  for 
weeks  at  a  time,  sometimes  semi-conscious  of  all  that 
passed,  at  others  in  the  most  complete  of  slumbers. 
Another  strange  thing  was  our  dress — which  never 
teemed  to  wear  out  and  renewed  itself  in  some  mysterious 
fashion.  All  through  this  period  of  my  wanderings  and 
while  I  was  in  this  abode  it  was  of  a  dark — a  very  dark — 
blue  color,  with  a  yellow  girdle  round  the  waist,  and  an 
anchor  worked  in  yellow  on  the  left  slesve,  with  the 
words,  "Hope  is  Eternal,"  below  it.  There  were  close- 
fitting  undergarments  of  the  same  dark  color.  The  robe 
was  long  and  such  as  you  see  penitent  brotherhoods  or 
monks  wear  on  earth,  with  a  hood  hung  from  the  sho  al- 
ders, which  could  be  used  to  cover  the  head  and  face  of 
any  who  desired  to  screen  their  features  from  view;  and 
indeed  there  were  often  times  when  we  wished  to  do  so, 
for  suffering  and  remorse  had  made  such  changes  in  us 
that  we  were  often  glad  to  hide  our  faces  from  the  gaze 
of  those  we  loved.  The  hollow  eyes,  sunken  cheeks, 
wasted  and  bent  forms,  and  deep  lines  suffering  had 
traced  upon  each  face  told  their  own  story  but  too  well, 
and  such  of  us  as  had  dear  friends  on  earth  or  in  the  spirit 
land  still  grieving  for  our  loss,  sought  often  at  times  to 
iiide  from  their  eyes  our  disfigured  forms  and  faces. 

Our  lives  had  somewhat  of  monotony  about  them  in 
the  regular  order  in  which  our  studies  and  our  lectures 
followed  each  other  like  clockwork.  At  certain  stages — ■ 
for  they  did  not  count  time  by  days  or  weeks,  but  only  as 
advance  was  made  in  the  development  of  each  spirit — 
when  a  lesson  had  been  learned,  in  a  longer  or  a  shorter 
time  according  to  the  spiritual  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment, the  spirit  was  advanced  to  a  higher  branch  of  the 
subject  studied. 

Some  remain  a  very  long  time  before  they  can  grasp 
the  meaning  of  the  lesson  shown  to  them;  if  so,  the  spirit 
is  in  no  way  hurried  or  pressed  on  as  is  done  in  earth 


6G      A  WANDEEER  IN  THE  SIM  HIT  LANDS. 

education,  where  life  seems  all  ion  short  for  learning.  As 
a  spirit  a  man  has  all  eternity  before  him  and  can  stand 
still  or  go  on  as  he  pleases,  or  he  may  remain  where  he  is 
till  he  has  thought  out  and  grasped  clearly  what  lias  been 
shown,  and  then  he  is  ready  for  the  next  step,  and  so  on. 
There  is  no  hurrying  anyone  faster  than  he  chooses  to  go; 
no  interference  with  his  liberty  to  live  on  in  the  same 
state  of  undevelopment  if  he  wishes,  so  long  as  he  inter- 
feres with  the  liberty  of  no  one  else  and  conforms  to  the 
simple  rule  which  governs  that  great  Brotherhood,  the 
rule  of  freedom  and  sympathy  for  all.  None  were  urged 
to  learn,  and  none  were  kept  back  from  doing  so;  it  was 
all  voluntary,  and  did  any  one  seek  (as  many  did)  to  leave 
this  place,  he  was  free  to  go  where  he  would,  and  to 
return  again  if  he  wished;  the  doors  were  closed  to  none, 
either  in  going  or  returning,  and  none  ever  sought  to 
reproach  another  with  his  faults  or  shortcomings,  for  each 
felt  the  full  depth  of  his  own. 

Some  had  been  years  there,  I  learned,  for  to  them 
the  lessons  were  hard  and  slow  to  be  learned.  Others, 
again,  had  broken  away  and  gone  back  to  the  life  of  the 
earth  plane  so  many  times  that  they  had  descended  to  the 
lowest  sphere  at  last,  and  gone  through  a  course  of 
purification  in  that  other  House  of  Hope  where  I  had  first 
been.  They  had  appeared  to  go  back  instead  of  forward, 
yet  even  this  had  not  been  in  truth  a  retrogression, 
but  only  a  needful  lesson,  since  they  wTere  thus  cured  of 
the  desire  to  try  the  pleasures  of  the  earth  plane  again. 
A  f ew,  like  myself,  who  had  a  strong  and  powerful  motive 
to  rise,  made  rapid  progress,  and  soon  passed  on  from 
step  to  step,  but  there  were,  alas!  too  many  who  required 
all  the  hope  and  all  the  help  that  could  be  given  to  sustain 
and  comfort  them  through  all  their  trials;  and  it  was  my 
lot  to  be  able,  out  of  the  storehouse  of  my  own  hopeful- 
ness, to  give  a  share  to  others  less  fortunate  who  were  not 
blessed,  as  I  was,  with  a  stream  of  love  and  sympathy 
flowing  ever  to  me  from  my  beloved  on  earth,  cheering  me 
on  to  fresh  efforts  with  its  promise  of  joy  and  peace  at  last. 


A  WAXDEEEE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      67 

And  now  was  given  me  a  fresh  source  of  happiness 
in  being  able  to  spend  a  certain  time  on  earth  with  my 
darling,  when  she  was  able  to  be  made  fully  conscious  that 
I  was  there.  Many  times  had  I  been  to  see  her  unknown 
to  herself.  In  all  my  wanderings  I  had  found  time  to 
snatch  brief  happy  moments  to  go  to  earth  and  look  at 
her;  and  now,  although  I  was  still  almost  invisible  to  her 
eyes,  yet  she  could  tell  that  I  was  present  and  could  feel 
my  touch  when  I  laid  my  hand  on  hers.  She  would  place 
a  chair  for  me  beside  her  own  that  we  might  sit  side  by 
side  again,  as  in  the  dear  old  days  that  were  gone.  She 
would  speak  to  me  and  could  hear  faintly  what  I  said  in 
answer,  and  could  even  distinguish  dimly  my  form.  Ah ! 
the  strangeness,  the  sadness,  and  yet  the  sweetness  of 
those  meetings  between  the  living  and  the  dead! 

I  would  come  to  her  with  my  heart  full  of  the  bit- 
terest anguish  and  remorse  for  the  past.  The  sense  of 
shame  and  humiliation  at  what  I  had  become  would  be 
such  that  it  seemed  hopeless  for  one  such  as  I  was  to  rise 
to  higher  things,  and  the  sight  of  her  sweet  face  and  the 
knowledge  that  she  believed  in  me  and  loved  me  in  spite 
of  all,  would  soothe  my  heart  and  give  me  fresh  hope, 
fresh  courage  to  struggle  on.  From  the  desolation  of  our 
lives  there  grew  up  in  those  strangely  sweet  meetings  a 
trust  and  hope  in  the  future  that  no  words  can  describe. 

I  learned  that  she  had  been  developing  her  powers, 
and  studying  how  she  could  use  the  truly  wonderful  gifts 
which  she  possessed  and  which  had  lain  dormant  for  so 
long,  and  she  was  greatly  pleased  to  find  how  well  she  was 
succeeding  and  how  rapidly  the  curtain  which  shut  me 
out  from  her  was  being  drawn  aside.  Then  there  came 
to  us  another  pleasure.  My  beloved  had  found  a  medium 
through  whose  peculiar  organization  it  was  made  possible 
for  a  spirit  to  clothe  himself  again  in  the  semblance  of  an 
earthly  body,  similar  in  appearance  to  his  own  and 
recognizable  by  the  friends  he  had  left  on  earth.  I  was 
now  enabled  to  materialize  (as  it  is  termed)  a  solid  hand 
with  which  to  touch  her.  Great  was  the  happiness  this 
gave  to  us  both,  though  I  was  as  yet  denied  the  further 


G8      A  WANDERER  EN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

pleasure  of  showing  myself  to  her.  I  was  told  I  could  not 
do  so  without  bearing  on  the  materialized  face  the  nans 
of  my  Sufferings,  and  it  would  only  have  pained  her  to  see 
that.  Later  on,  when  1  was  more  advanced,  I  should 
show  myself  clearly. 

Ah!  how  many,  many  poor  spirits  would  come  in 
crowds  to  those  meetings,  hoping  for  the  chance  that  they, 
too,  might  be  able  to  show  themselves  and  win  some 
recognition — see  again  someone  who  was  glad  to  know 
that  they  still  lived  and  could  return;  and  how  many  were 
always  certain  to  go  away  sad  and  disappointed  because 
there  were  so  many  and  only  a  certain  amount  of  power, 
and  those  who  were  nearest  and  dearest  were  naturally 
granted  a  preference.  The  spirit  world  is  full  of  lonely 
souls,  all  eager  to  return  and  show  that  they  still  live,  still 
think  of  those  whom  they  have  left,  still  feel  an  interest 
in  their  struggles,  and  are  as  ready  and  often  more  able 
to  advise  and  help  than  when  they  were  on  earth,  were 
they  not  shut  out  by  the  barriers  of  the  flesh.  I  have  seen 
so  many,  so  very  many  spirits  hanging  about  the  earth 
plane  when  they  might  have  gone  to  some  bright  sphere, 
but  would  not,  because  of  their  affection  for  some  beloved 
ones  left  to  struggle  with  the  trials  of  earth,  and  grieving 
in  deepest  sorrow  for  their  death;  and  so  the  spirits  would 
hang  about  them,  hoping  for  some  chance  which  would 
make  the  mortal  conscious  of  their  presence  and  their 
constant  love.  Could  these  but  communicate  as  do 
friends  on  earth  when  one  has  to  go  to  a  distant  country 
and  leave  the  other  behind,  there  would  not  be  such  hope- 
lessness of  sorrow  as  I  have  often  seen;  and  although 
years  and  the  ministrations  of  comforting  angels  will 
soften  the  grief  of  most  mortals,  yet  would  it  not  be  a 
happier  state  for  both  mortals  and  spirits  could  they  but 
still  hold  sweet  communion  together  as  of  yore?  I  have 
known  a  mother  whose  son  has  taken  to  evil  ways,  and 
who  believed  that  mother  to  be  an  angel  in  heaven  far 
away — I  have,  I  say,  known  her  to  follow  her  son  for 
years,  striving  in  vain  to  impress  him  with  the  sense  of  her 
presence,  that  she  might  warn  and  save  him  from  his  path 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       69 

of  sin.  I  have  seen  one  of  a  pair  of  lovers  whom  some 
misunderstanding:  had  parted,  and  between  whom  death 
had  placed  a  last  insuperable  harrier,  haunt  the  beloved 
one  left  behind,  and  seek  by  all  means  in  his  power  to 
convey  to  her  the  true  state  of  things,  and  that  their 
hearts  had  been  ever  true  whatever  might  have  appeared 
to  the  contrary.  I  have  seen  spirits  in  such  sorrow,  such 
despair,  trying  in  vain  to  win  one  conscious  look,  one 
single  thought,  to  show  that  their  presence  was  felt  and 
understood.  I  have  seen  them  in  their  despair  cast  them- 
selves down  before  the  mortal  one  and  seek  to  hold  her 
hand,  her  dress,  anything;  and  the  spirit  hand  was  power- 
less to  grasp  the  mortal  one,  and  the  mortal  ears  were  ever 
deaf  to  the  spirit  voice.  Only,  perhaps,  a  sense  of  sorrow 
would  be  given,  and  an  intense  longing  to  behold  again 
the  dead,  without  power  to  know  that  the  so-called  dead 
was  there  beside  them.  There  is  no  despair  of  earth, 
great  as  it  often  is,  equal  to  the  despair  a  spirit  feels  when 
first  he  realizes  in  all  its  force,  the  meaning  of  the  barrier 
which  death  has  placed  between  him  and  the  world  of 
mortal  man.  Is  it,  then,  wonderful  that  on  the  spirit  side 
of  life  all  means  are  being  taken  by  those  who  seek  to  help 
and  comfort  the  sorrowing  ones,  both  on  the  earth  and  in 
the  spirit  land,  to  roll  back  these  barriers  and  to  open 
wide  the  doors  that  men  and  angels  may  walk  and  talk 
together  upon  earth,  as  in  the  days  of  old  when  the  world 
was  but  young?  If  there  is  much  that  is  trivial,  much 
that  seems  silly  and  foolish,  and  even  vulgar  or  grotesque 
and  terrible,  in  the  manifestations  witnessed  through 
many  mediums  and  in  many  circles;  if  there  are  fraud- 
ulent mediums  and  credulous  fools  or  vain  and  conceited 
egotists  in  the  movement,  is  it  not  so  with  all  great  but 
unrecognized  truths  struggling  for  acknowledgment,  and 
should  not  all  these  things  be  excused  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  they  are  all  attempts,  clumsy  and  foolish  it  may  be, 
yet  still  attempts,  to  open  the  doors  and  let  the  light  from 
the  spirit  world  in  upon  a  sorrowful  earth?  Find  fault 
with  these  false  or  misdirected  efforts  if  you  will,  but  also 
seek  for  knowledge  to  direct  them  better,  and  you  will 


70      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

help  on  those  who  are  trying  to  climb  to  higher  things, 
and  do  not  try  simply  to  sneer  them  down  and  crush  and 
Btifle  them;  rather  recognize  them  for  what  they  are — the 
efforts  of  the  unseen  world  to  lift  the  veil  that  hides  your 
beloved  dead  from  your  eyes. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      71 


CHAPTER  XL 

To  these  meetings  for  materialization  I  was  always 
accompanied  by  that  majestic  spirit  of  whom  I  have 
already  spoken,  and  whom  I  now  knew  by  his  name, 
Ahrinziman,  '"the  Eastern  Guide."  As  I  was  now  be- 
ginning to  see  him  more  clearly  I  will  describe  him  to  you. 

He  was  a  tall,  majestic-looking  man  with  long  flow- 
ing white  garments  bordered  with  yellow,  and  a  yellow 
girdle  around  his  waist.  His  complexion  was  that  of  an 
Eastern,  of  a  pale  dusky  tint.  The  features  were  straight 
and  beautifully  molded,  as  one  sees  them  in  the  statues  of 
Apollo,  though  their  peculiar  Eastern  cast  caused  them 
to  vary  a  little  from  the  perfect  Grecian  type.  His  eyes 
were  large,  dark,  soft  and  tender  as  a  woman's,  yet  with  a 
latent  fire  and  force  of  passion  in  their  depths  which, 
though  subdued  and  controlled  by  his  strong  will,  yet 
gave  a  warmth  and  intensity  to  his  looks  and  manner, 
from  which  I  could  easily  believe  that  in  his  earth  life  he 
had  known  all  the  sweetness  and  all  the  passion  of  violent 
love  and  hate.  Now  his  passions  were  purified  from  all 
earthly  dross,  and  served  but  as  links  of  sympathy  between 
him  and  those  who,  like  myself,  were  still  struggling  to 
subdue  their  lower  natures,  and  conquer  their  passions. 
A  short  silky  black  beard  covered  his  cheeks  and  chin, 
and  his  soft  wavy  black  hair  hung  somewhat  long  upon  his 
shoulders.  His  figure,  though  tall  and  powerful,  had  all 
the  litheness  and  supple  grace  of  his  Eastern  race,  for  so 
marked  are  the  types  of  each  race  that  even  the  spirit 
bears  still  the  impress  of  its  earthly  nationality,  and 
although  centuries  had  passed  since  Ahrinziman  had  left 


: 8      A  \VA N DEEEB  IN  TDK  SPIEIT  LANDS. 

the  earthly  body  he  retained  all  the  peculiarities  which 
distinguished  the  Eastern  from  the  Western  people.  The 
spirit  was  strangely  like  an  earthly  mortal  man,  and  yet 
so  unlike  in  that  peculiar  dazzling  brightness  of  form  and 
feature  which  no  words  can  ever  paint,  nor  pen  describe, 
that  strange  and  wonderful  ethereality,  and  yet  distinct 
tangibility,  which  only  those  who  have  seen  a  spirit  of  the 
higher  spheres  can  truly  understand.  In  his  earth  life  he 
had  heen  a  deep  student  of  the  occult  sciences,  and  since 
his  entry  into  the  spirit  world  he  had  expanded  and  in- 
creased his  knowledge  till  to  me  it  seemed  there  was  no 
limit  to  his  powers.  Like  myself,  of  a  wrarm  and  passion- 
ate nature,  he  had  learned  during  long  years  of  spirit  life 
to  overcome  and  subdue  all  his  passions,  till  now  he  stood 
upon  a  pinnacle  of  power  whence  he  stooped  down  ever  to 
draw  up  strugglers  like  myself,  whom  his  sympathy  and 
^ready  understanding  of  our  weaknesses  made  ready  to 
"receive  his  help,  while  one  who  had  never  himself  fallen 
would  have  spoken  to  us  in  vain.  With  all  his  gentleness 
and  ready  sympathy,  however,  he  had  also  a  power  of  will 
against  which,  when  he  chose  to  exert  it,  one  sought  in 
vain  to  fight,  and  I  have  beheld  on  more  than  one  occasion 
some  of  the  wild  passionate  beings  amongst  whom  he 
worked,  brought  to  a  stop  in  something  they  were  about 
to  do  which  would  have  harmed  themselves  or  others. 
They  would  be  spellbound  and  unable  to  move  a  limb,  yet 
he  had  never  touched  them.  It  was  but  by  his  own 
powerful  will,  which  was  so  much  stronger  than  theirs 
that  for  the  time  they  were  paralyzed.  Then  he  would 
argue  the  matter  with  them,  kindly  and  frankly,  and  show 
to  them  in  some  of  his  wonderful  ways  the  full  con- 
sequences to  themselves  and  others  of  what  they  were 
about  to  do,  and  when  he  had  done  so  he  would  lift  from 
them  the  spell  of  his  will  and  leave  them  free  to  act  as  they 
desired,  free  to  commit  the  meditated  sin  now  that  they 
knew  its  consequences;  and  seldom  have  I  known  any 
who,  after  so  solemn  a  warning,  would  still  persist  in  fol- 
lowing their  own  path.  I  myself  have  always  been  con- 
sidered one  whose  will  was  strong,  and  who  could  not 


A  WANDERER  IN"  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       73 

readily  give  it  up  to  any  others,  but  beside  this  spirit  I 
have  felt  myself  a  child,  and  have  bowed  more  than  once 
to  the  force  of  his  decisions.  And  here  let  me  say  that  in 
all  things  in  the  spirit  world  man  is  free — free  as  air — to 
follow  his  own  inclinations  and  desires  if  he  wishes,  and 
does  not  choose  to  take  the  advice  offered  to  him.  The 
limitations  to  a  man's  own  indulgence  and  the  extent  to 
which  he  can  infringe  upon  the  rights  of  others,  are  regu- 
lated by  the  amount  of  law  and  order  existing  in  the 
sphere  to  which  he  belongs. 

For  example,  in  the  lowest  sphere  of  all,  where  no 
law  prevails  but  the  law  of  the  strongest  oppressor,  you 
may  do  what  you  please;  you  may  injure  or  oppress 
another  to  the  very  last  limits  of  his  endurance,  and  those 
who  are  stronger  than  you  will  do  the  same  to  you.  The 
most  oppressed  slaves  on  earth  are  less  unhappy  than  those 
whom  I  have  seen  in  the  lowest  sphere  of  all,  where  no  law 
prevails  and  where  only  those  spirits  are  to  be  found  who 
have  defied  all  laws  of  God  or  man  and  have  been  a  law  to 
themselves,  exercising  the  most  boundless  oppression  and 
wrong  towards  their  neighbors.  In  those  spheres  which 
I  shall  shortly  describe,  it  seems  that  strong,  cruel  and 
oppressive  as  a  spirit  may  be,  there  is  always  found  some- 
one still  stronger  to  oppress  him,  some  one  still  crueller, 
still  wickeder,  still  more  oppressive,  till  at  last  you  arrive 
at  those  who  may  truly  be  said  to  reign  in  hell — Kings 
and  Emperors  of  Evil!  And  it  goes  on  till  at  last  the  very 
excess  of  evil  will  work  its  own  cure.  The  worst  and  most 
tyrannical  will  long  for  some  other  state  of  things,  some 
laws  to  restrain,  some  power  to  control;  and  that  feeling 
will  be  the  first  step,  the  first  desire  for  a  better  life,  which 
will  give  the  Brothers  of  Hope  sent  to  work  in  those  dark 
spheres,  the  little  loophole  through  which  to  give  the  idea 
of  improvement,  and  the  hope  that  it  is  still  possible  for 
them.  As  the  spirit  progresses  upwards  there  will  be 
found  in  each  circle  of  the  ladder  of  progress  an  increased 
degree  of  law  and  order  prevailing,  to  which  he  will  be 
ready  to  conform  himself,  as  he  expects  others  to  conform 
where  the  laws  affect  him.     The  perfect  observance  of  the 


74      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

highest  moral  laws  is  found  only  in  the  highest  spheres, 
hut  there  are  many  degrees  of  observance,  and  he  who 
respects  the  rights  of  others  will  find  his  rights  respected. 
while  he  who  tramples  upon  his  neighbor  will  in  turn  he 
trampled  upon  by  the  stronger  ones. 

In  all  respects  man  in  the  spirit  world  is  free  to  work 
or  to  he  idle,  to  do  good  or  to  do  evil,  to  win  a  hlessing  or 
a  curse.  Such  as  he  is,  such  will  he  his  surroundings,  and 
the  sphere  for  which  he  is  fitted  must  ever  be  the  highest 
to  which  he  can  attain  till  his  own  efforts  fit  him  to  be- 
come a  dweller  in  one  higher.  Thus  the  good  need  no 
protection  against  the  evil  in  the  spirit  world.  Their  own 
different  states  place  an  insurmountable  harrier  between 
them.  Those  above  can  always  descend  at  will  to  visit  or 
help  those  below  them,  but,  between  them  and  the  lower 
spirits  there  is  a  great  gulf  which  the  lower  ones  cannot 
•pass.  Only  upon  your  earth  and  on  other  planets  where 
material  life  exists,  can  there  be  the  mixture  of  good  and 
evil  influences  with  almost  equal  power.  I  say  almost 
equal,  since  even  on  earth  the  good  have  'the  greater 
power,  unless  man  shuts  himself  out  from  their  aid  by  the 
indulgence  of  his  lower  passions. 

In  days  of  old  when  men's  hearts  were  simple  as  little 
children's,  the  spirit  world  lay  close  at  their  doors  and 
they  knew  it  not,  but  now  men  have  drifted  far  from  it, 
and  are  like  mariners  upon  a  raft,  who  are  seeking  now 
again  through  fog  and  mist  to  find  it.  Kind  pilots  of  the 
spirit  world  are  striving  to  guide  and  help  them  to  reach 
that  radiant  land  that  they  may  bring  back  a  bright  store 
of  hope  and  light  for  the  weary  strugglers  upon  earth. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      75 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  meetings  for  materialization  were  held  once  a 
fortnight,  and  from  the  number  of  them  I  judged  that 
about  three  months  had  passed,  when  I  was  told  by  Ahrin- 
ziman  to  prepare  myself  for  a  great  change  which  was 
about  to  take  place  in  myself  and  my  surroundings,  and 
which  would  mean  my  passing  into  a  higher  sphere.  I 
have  heard  the  spheres  divided  differently  by  different 
spirit  teachers,  and  it  is  not  very  important  that  they 
should  be  all  divided  by  the  same  standard,  since  these 
divisions  are  very  similar  to  mapping  out  a  country  where 
the  boundaries  melt  so  imperceptibly  into  one  another 
that  it  is  not  very  essential  to  have  the  limits  defined  with 
perfect  exactitude,  since  the  changes  in  the  countries  and 
the  people  will  of  themselves  mark  their  different  states  as 
you  progress  on  your  journey.  Thus,  then,  some  will  tell 
you  there  are  seven  spheres  and  that  the  seventh  means 
the  heaven  spoken  of  in  the  Bible;  others  say  there  are 
twelve  spheres;  others  again  extend  the  number.  Each 
sphere  is,  however,  divided  into  circles,  usually  twelve  to 
a  sphere,  though  here  again  some  spirits  will  reckon  them 
differently,  just  as  your  standards  of  measurement  on 
earth  differ  in  different  countries,  yet  the  thing  they 
measure  remains  the  same.  For  myself,  I  have  been  used 
to  count  that  there  are  seven  spheres  above  the  earth  and 
seven  below  it — using  the  terms  above  and  below  as  sig- 
nifying the  nearness  to,  or  distance  from,  the  great  central 
sun  of  our  solar  system,  the  nearest  point  of  attraction 
towards  that  sun  being  considered  to  be  our  highest  point 
of  attainment  (while  in  the  limits  of  the  earth  spheres), 


rG      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

and  the  farthest  away  being  regarded  as  our  lowest  or  most 
degraded  sphere.  Each  sphere,  then,  being  subdivided 
into  twelve  circles,  which  are  blended  so  closely  into  each 
other  that  you  appear  to  pass  almost  insensibly  from  one 
to  the  other.  I  had  hitherto  been  in  what  is  called  the 
earth  plane,  which  like  a  great  broad  belt  circles  around 
the  earth  and  permeates  its  atmosphere.  This  earth 
plane  may  be  said  to  comprehend  within  its  bounds  the 
first  of  the  seven  spheres  above  and  the  first  of  those  below 
the  earth,  and  is  used  commonly  in  describing  the  habita- 
tions of  those  spirits  who  are  said  to  be  earth-bound  in  a 
greater  or  less  degree  because  they  are  not  able  to  sink 
below  the  earth  attractions  nor  to  free  themselves  from  its 
influences. 

I  was  now  told  that  I  had  so  far  freed  myself  from 
the  earth's  attractions  and  overcome  my  desires  for  earthly 
things,  that  I  was  able  to  pass  into  the  second  sphere. 
The  passing  from  the  body  of  a  lower  sphere  into  that  of 
a  higher  one  is  often,  though  not  invariably,  accomplished 
during  a  deej)  sleep  which  closely  resembles  the  death- 
sleep  of  the  spirit  in  leaving  the  earthly  body.  '  As  a  spirit 
grows  more  elevated,  more  etherealized,  this  change  is 
accompanied  by  a  greater  degree  of  consciousness,  till  at 
last  the  passing  from  one  high  sphere  to  another  is  simply 
like  changing  one  garb  for  another  a  little  finer,  discard- 
ing one  spiritual  envelope  for  a  more  ethereal  one.  Thus 
the  soul  passes  onward,  growing  less  and  less  earthly  (or 
material)  in  its  envelopment,  till  it  passes  beyond  the 
limits  of  our  earth  spheres  into  those  of  the  solar  systems. 

It  happened,  then,  that  upon  my  return  from  one  of 
my  visits  to  the  earth,  I  felt  overpowered  by  a  strange 
unusual  sense  of  drowsiness,  which  was  more  like  paralysis 
of  the  brain  than  sleep. 

I  retired  to  my  little  room  in  the  Twilight  Land,  and 
throwing  myself  upon  my  couch,  sank  at  once  into  a  pro- 
found dreamless  slumber  like  unto  the  unconscious  sleep 
of  death. 

In  this  state  of  unconsciousness  I  lay  for  about  two 
weeks  of  earthly  time,  and  during  it  my  soul  passed  from 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      77 

the  disfigured  astral  body  and  came  forth  like  a  newborn 
child,  clothed  in  a  brighter,  purer  spiritual  envelope, 
which  my  efforts  at  overcoming  the  evil  in  myself  had 
created  for  it.  Only  I  was  not  born  as  an  infant  but  as  a 
full  grown  man,  even  as  my  experience  and  knowledge 
had  been  those  of  a  mature  spirit.  There  are  some  mor- 
tals whose  knowledge  of  life  is  so  limited,  whose  minds 
have  been  so  little  cultivated,  and  whose  natures  are  so 
simple  and  childlike,  that  they  are  born  into  the  spirit 
world  as  mere  children,  however  many  years  of  earth  life 
they  may  have  known,  but  it  was  not  so  with  me,  and  in 
assuming  my  new  condition  I  also  possessed  the  develop- 
ment in  age  which  my  earth  life  had  given  me. 

In  a  state  of  perfect  unconsciousness  my  newborn 
soul  was  borne  by  the  attendant  spirit  friends  into  the 
second  sphere,  where  I  lay  sleeping  my  dreamless  sleep 
till  the  time  came  for  my  awakening. 

The  discarded  astral  envelope  I  had  left  was  by  the 
power  of  attendant  spirits  dissolved  into  the  elements  of 
the  earth  plane,  even  as  my  earthly  body  left  at  my  first 
death  would  decay  into  the  earthly  material  from  which  it 
had  been  taken,— dust  returning  unto  dust  again,  while 
the  immortal  soul  passed  on  to  a  higher  state. 

Thus  did  I  pass  through  my  second  death  and  awake 
to  the  resurrection  of  my  higher  self. 


PART   II. 


Zbc  Dawn  of  light. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      79 


PART  II. 

Zbe  Dawn  of  XfQbt. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

On  my  awakening  for  the  second  time  from  a  Sleep 
of  death  to  consciousness  in  the  spirit  world,  I  found  that 
I  was  in  much  pleasanter  surroundings.  There  was  day- 
light at  last,  though  it  was  as  that  of  a  dull  day  without 
sun,  yet  what  a  blessed  change  from  the  dismal  twilight 
and  the  dark  night! 

I  was  in  a  neat  little  room  quite  like  an  earthly  one, 
lying  upon  a  little  bed  of  soft  white  down.  Before  me 
was  a  long  window  looking  out  upon  a  wide  stretch  of 
hills  and  undulating  country.  There  were  no  trees  or 
shrubs  to  be  seen,  and  hardly  any  flowers,  save  here  and 
there  some  little  simple  ones  like  flowering  weeds,  yet 
even  these  were  refreshing  to  the  eyes,  and  there  were 
ferns  and  grass  clothing  the  ground  with  a  carpet  of 
verdure  instead  of  the  hard  bare  soil  of  the  Twilight  Land. 

This  region  was  called  the  "Land  of  Dawn,"  and 
truly  the  light  was  as  the  day  appears  before  the  sun  has 
arisen  to  warm  it.  The  sky  was  of  a  pale  blue  grey,  and 
white  cloudlets  seemed  to  chase  each  other  across  it  and 
float  in  quiet  masses  on  the  horizon.  You  who  think 
that  there  are  no  clouds  and  no  sunshine  in  the  spirit 
lands  hardly  know  how  beautiful  a  thing  you  would  shut 


80      A  WAX  DEREB  IN"  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

out,  unless  you  have  spent,  as  I  did,  a  long  monotonous 
time  without  seeing  cither  of  them. 

The  room  I  was  in,  though  by  no  means  luxurious, 
was  yet  fairly  comfortable  in  appearance,  and  reminded 
me  of  some  cottage  interior  upon  earth.  It  held  all  that 
was  needful  to  comfort,  if  nothing  that  was  specially  beau- 
til'ul,  and  it  had  not  that  bare  prison-like  look  of  my 
former  dwellings.  There  were  a  few  pictures  of  scenes  of 
my  earth  life  which  had  been  pleasant,  and  the  recollec- 
tions they  called  up  gave  me  a  fresh  pleasure;  there  were 
also  some  pictures  of  spirit  life,  and  oh!  joy,  there  was  my 
picture  mirror,  and  my  rose,  and  the  letter — all  my  treas- 
ures! I  stopped  my  explorations  to  look  into  that  mirror 
and  see  what  my  beloved  was  doing.  She  was  asleep,  and 
on  her  face  was  a  happy  smile  as  if  even  in  her  dreams  she 
knew  some  good  had  befallen  me.  'Then  I  went  to  the 
window  and  looked  out  over  the  country  and  those  long 
rolling  hills,  treeless  and  somewhat  bare,  save  for  their 
covering  of  grass  and  ferns.  I  looked  long  upon  this 
scene,  it  was  so  like  and  yet  so  unlike  earth,  so  strangely 
bare  and  yet  so  peaceful.  My  eyes,  long  wearied  with 
those  lower  spheres,  rested  in  joy  and  peace  upon  this  new 
scene,  and  the  thought  that  I  had  thus  risen  to  a  new  life 
filled  me  with  a  thankfulness  of  heart  unspeakable. 

At  last  I  turned  from  the  window,  and  seeing  what 
was  like  a  small  mirror  near  me,  I  looked  to  see  what 
change  there  might  be  in  myself.  I  started  back  with  an 
exclamation  of  joy  and  surprise.  Was  it  possible?  Could 
this  be  as  I  appeared  now?  I  gazed  and  gazed  again. 
This  myself?  Why,  I  was  young  again!  I  looked  a  man 
of  about  thirty  or  thirty-five,  not  more  certainly,  and  I 
beheld  myself  as  I  had  been  in  my  prime  on  earth !  I  had 
looked  so  old,  so  haggard,  so  miserable  in  that  Twilight 
Land  that  I  had  avoided  to  look  at  myself.  I  had  looked 
twenty  times  worse  than  I  could  ever  have  looked  on 
earth,  had  I  lived  to  be  a  hundred  years  old.  And  now, 
why,  I  was  young!  I  held  out  my  hand,  it  was  firm  and 
fresh-looking  like  my  face.  A  closer  inspection  of  myself 
pleased  me  still  more.     I  was  in  all  respects  a  young  man 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      81 

again  in  my  prime  of  vigor,  yet  not  quite  as  I  had  been; 
no!  there  was  a  sadness  in  my  look,  a  certain  something 
more  in  the  eyes  than  anywhere  else  that  showed  the 
suffering  through  which  I  had  passed.  I  knew  that  never 
again  could  I  feel  the  heedless  buoyant  ecstasy  of  youth, 
for  never  again  could  I  go  back  and  be  quite  as  I  had  been. 
The  bitter  past  of  my  life  rose  up  before  me  and  checked 
my  buoyant  thoughts.  The  remorse  for  my  past  sins  was 
with  me  yet,  and  cast  still  its  shadow  over  even  the  joy  of 
this  awakening.  Never,  ah!  never  can  we  undo  all  the 
past  life  of  earth,  so  that  no  trace  of  it  will  cling  to  the 
risen  spirit,  and  I  have  heard  that  even  those  who  have 
progressed  far  beyond  what  I  have  even  yet  done,  bear 
still  the  scars  of  their  past  sins  and  sorrows,  scars  that  will 
slowly,  very  slowly,  wear  away  at  last  in  the  great  ages  of 
eternity.  For  me  there  had  come  joy,  great  joy,  wonder- 
ful fulfillment  of  my  hope,  yet  there  clung  to  me  the 
shadow  of  the  past,  and  its  dark  mantle  clouded  even  the 
happiness  of  this  hour. 

While  I  yet  mused  upon  the.  change  which  had  passed 
over  me,  the  door  opened  and  a  spirit  glided  in,  dressed 
(as  I  now  was)  in  a  long  robe  of  a  dark  blue  color  with 
yellow,  borderings,  and  the  symbol  of  our  order  on  the 
sleeve.  He  had  come  to  invite  me  to  a  banquet  which  was 
to  be  given  to  myself  and  others  who  were  newly  arrived 
from  the  lower  sphere.  "All  is  simple  here,"  said  he, 
"even  our  festivals,  yet  there  will  be  the  salt  of  friendship 
to  season  it  and  the  wine  of  love  to  refresh  you  all.  To- 
day you  are  our  honored  guests,  and  we  all  wait  to 
welcome  you  as  those  who  have  fought  a  good  fight  and 
gained  a  worthy  victory." 

Then  he  took  me  by  the  hand  and  led  me  into  a  long 
hall,  with  many  windows  looking  out  upon  more  hills  and 
a  great  peaceful  quiet  lake.  Here  there  were  long  tables 
spread  for  the  banquet,  and  seats  placed  round  for  us  all. 
There  were  about  five  or  six  hundred  brothers  newly 
arrived,  like  myself,  and  about  a  thousand  more  who  had 
been  there  for  some  time  and  who  were  going  about  from 
one  to  another  introducing  themselves  and  welcoming  the 


82      A  YV.WDKWKR  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

new-comers  cordially.  Here  and  there  someone  would 
recognize  an  old  friend  or  comrade,  or  one  who  had  either 
assisted  them  or  been  assisted  by  them  in  the  lower 
spheres.  They  were  all  awaiting  the  arrival  of  the  pre- 
siding spirit  of  the  order  in  this  sphere,  who  was  called 
"The  Grand  Master." 

Presently  the  large  doors  at  one  end  of  the  hall  were 
seen  to  glide  apart  of  themselves,  and  a  procession  entered. 
First  came  a  most  majestic,  handsome  spirit  in  robes  of 
that  rich  bine  color  one  sees  in  the  pictures  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  These  robes  were  lined  with  white  and  bordered 
with  yellow,  while  a  hood  of  yellow  lined  with  white  hung 
from  the  shoulders,  and  on  the  sleeve  was  embroidered  the 
symbol  of  the  Order  of  Hope.  Behind  this  man  were 
about  a  hundred  or  so  of  youths,  all  in  white  and  bine 
robes,  who  bore  in  their  hands  wreaths  of  laurel.  At  the 
upper  end  of  the  hall  there  was  a  handsome  chair  of  state, 
"with  a  white,  bine  and  yellow  canopy  over  it,  and  after 
saluting  us  all  the  Grand  Master  seated  himself  in  it. 
while  the  youths  ranged  themselves  in  a  semicircle  behind 
him.  After  a  short  prayer  of  thanksgiving  to  Almighty 
God  for  us  all  he  addressed  us  in  these  terms: 

"My  Brethren,  you  who  are  assembled  to  welcome 
these  wanderers  who  are  to  find  for  a  time  rest  and  peace, 
sympathy  and  love,  in  this  our  House  of  Hope,  and  you 
our  wandering  brothers,  whom  we  are  all  assembled  to 
welcome  and  to  honor  as  conquerors  in  the  great  battle 
against  selfishness  and  sin,  to  you  we  give  our  heartiest 
greeting,  and  bid  you  accept,  as  members  of  our  great 
brotherhood,  these  tributes  of  our  respect  and  honor, 
which  we  offer  and  which  you  have  fairly  won.  And  from 
the  increased  happiness  of  your  own  lives  we  bid  you 
stretch  forth  your  hands  in  brotherly  love  to  all  the  sor- 
rowing ones  whom  you  have  left  still  toiling  in  the  dark- 
ness of  the  earth  life  and  in  the  spheres  of  the  earth  plane, 
and  as  you  shall  yourselves  know  yet  more  perfect 
triumphs,  yet  nobler  conquests,  so  seek  ye  to  give  to  others 
yet  more  and  more  of  the  perfect  love  of  our  great 
brotherhood,  whose  highest  and  most  glorious  masters  are 


A  WANDEKEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      83 

in  the  heavens,  and  whose  humblest  members  are  yet 
struggling  sinners  in  the  dark  earth  plane.  In  one  long 
and  unbroken  chain  our  great  order  shall  stretch  from  the 
heavens  to  the  earth  while  this  planet  shall  support 
material  life,  and  each  and  every  one  of  you  must  ever 
remember  that  you  are  links  of  that  great  chain,  fellow 
workers  with  the  angels,  brother  workers  with  the  most 
oppressed.  I  summon  you  now,  each  in  your  turn,  to 
receive  and  to  cherish  as  a  symbol  of  the  honor  you  have 
won,  these  wreaths  of  fadeless  laurel  which  shall  crown 
the  victors'  brows.  In  the  name  of  the  Great  Supreme 
Euler  of  the  Universe,  in  the  name  of  all  Angels  and  of 
our  Brotherhood,  I  crown  each  one  and  dedicate  you  to 
the  cause  of  Light  and  Hope  and  Truth." 

Then  at  a  signal  we,  the  new  arrivals,  many  of  us 
almost  overcome  by  these  kindly  words  and  this  mark  of 
honor,  drew  near,  and,  kneeling  clown  before  the  Grand 
Master,  had  placed  upon  our  heads  these  laurel  crowns 
which  the  youths  handed  to  the  Master,  and  with  which 
he  crowned  us  with  his  own  hands. 

"When  the  last  one  had  received  his  crown,  such  a 
shout  of  joy  went  up  from  the  assembled  Brothers,  such 
cheers,  and  then  they  sang  a  most  beautiful  song  of  praise, 
with  so  lovely  a  melody  and  such  poetical  words  that  I 
would  I  could  reproduce  it  all  for  you.  "When  this  was 
over  we  were  each  led  to  a  seat  by  an  attendant  brother 
and  the  banquet  began. 

You  will  wonder  how  such  a  banquet  could  be  in  the 
spirit  world,  but  do  you  think  that  even  on  earth  your  all 
of  enjoyment  at  such  a  scene  is  in  the  food  you  eat,  the 
wine  you  drink,  and  do  you  imagine  that  a  spirit  has  no 
need  for  food  of  any  kind?  If  so,  you  are  in  error.  We 
need,  and  we  eat,  food,  though  not  of  so  material  a  sub- 
stance as  is  yours.  There  is  no  animal  food  of  any  sort, 
nor  anything  like  it,  save  only  in  the  lowest  spheres  of 
earth-bound  spirits,  where  they  enjoy  through  others  yet 
in  the  flesh  the  satisfaction  of  the  animal  appetites. 

But  there  are  in  this  second  sphere  the  most  delicious 
fruits,  almost  transparent  to  look  at,  which  melt  in  your 


8 1      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

mouth  as  you  eaj  them.  There  is  wine  like  sparkling 
nectar,  which  does  not  intoxicate  or  create  a  thirst  for 
more.  There  are  none  of  those  things  which  would 
gratify  coarse  appetites,  hut  there  are  delicate  cakes  and  a 
BOrj  of  light  bread.  Of  such  fare  and  such  wine  did  this 
banquet  consist,  and  I  for  one  confess  1  never  enjoyed 
anything  more  than  the  lovely  fruits,  which  were  the  first 
1  had  seen  in  the  spirit  world,  and  which  I  was  told  were 
truly  the  fruits  of  our  own  labors  grown  in  the  spirit  land 
by  our  efforts  to  help  others. 

After  the  banquet  was  over  there  was  another  speech, 
and  a  grand  chorus  of  thanks,  in  which  we  all  joined. 
Then  we  dispersed,  some  of  us  to  see  our  friends  upon 
earth  and  try  to  make  them  feel  that  some  happy  event 
had  befallen  us.  Many  of  us,  alas!  were  being  mourned 
as  among  the  lost  souls  who  had  died  in  sin,  and  it  was  a 
.great  grief  to  us  that  these  earthly  friends  could  not  be 
made  conscious  how  great  were  now  our  hopes.  Others 
of  the  Brothers  turned  to  converse  with  newly-found 
spirit  friends,  while  for  my  part  I  went  straight  to  earth 
to  tell  the  good  news  to  my  beloved.  I  found  her  about 
to  attend  one  of  those  meetings  for  materialization,  and, 
trembling  with  joy  and  eagerness,  I  followed  her  there, 
for  now  I  knew  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  why  I 
should  not  show  my  face  to  her  who  had  been  so  faithful 
and  so  patient  in  waiting  for  me — no  longer  would  the 
sight  of  me  give  pain  or  shock  her. 

Ah,  what  a  happy  night  that  was!  I  stood  beside  her 
all  the  time.  I  touched  her  again  and  again.  I  stood 
there,  no  more  the  dark  shrouded  figure  hiding  his  face 
from  all  eyes.  No!  I  was  there  in  my  new  dress  with  my 
new  hopes,  my  risen  body,  and  the  ashes  of  my  dead  past 
were  there  no  more  to  give  me  such  shame  and  sorrow  of 
heart  as  I  had  known.  And  then — oh!  crowning  joy  to 
that  most  joyful  day — I  showed  myself  to  her  wondering 
eyes,  and  they  gazed  into  my  own.  But  she  did  not  know 
me  at  once;  she  was  looking  for  me  as  she  had  seen  me  last 
on  earth,  with  face  of  care  and  wrinkled  brow,  and  the 
young  man's  face  looked  strange  to  her.     Yet  not  quite 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       85 

strange,  she  smiled  and  looked  with  a  puzzled  wondering 
look  which,  could  I  but  have  held  the  material  particles 
of  my  form  together  for  but  a  few  more  moments,  must 
have  changed  to  recognition.  But,  alas!  all  too  soon  I 
felt  my  material  form  melting  from  me  like  soft  wax,  and 
I  had  to  turn  and  go  as  it  faded  away.  But  as  I  went  I 
heard  her  say:  "It  was  so  like,  so  very  like  what  my  dear 
friend  must  have  been  in  youth.  It  was  so  like  and  yet 
so  unlike  him,  I  hardly  know  what  to  think." 

Then  I  went  behind  her  and  whispered  in  her  ear 
that  it  was  I  myself,  and  no  other.  And  she  heard  my 
whisper  and  laughed  and  smiled,  and  said  she  had  felt 
sure  it  must  be  so.  Then  indeed  the  cup  of  my  joy  was 
full,  then  indeed  was  the  crown  of  my  day  complete. 


86      A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

After  this  there  came  for  me  a  time  of  happiness,  a 
season  of  rest  and  refreshment  upon  which  I  shall  not 
dwell;  its  memories  are  all  too  sacred  to  me,  for  those  days 
were  spent  near  to  her  I  loved,  and  I  had  the  happiness  of 
knowing  that  she  was  conscious  of  much,  though  not  all, 
I  said  to  her,  and  I  spent  so  much  of  my  time  on  earth 
that  I  had  none  to  explore  the  wonders  of  that  Land  of 
Dawn  of  which  I  had  become  an  inhabitant. 

And  now  a  fresh  surprise  awaited  me.  In  all  my 
wanderings  since  my  death  I  had  never  once  seen  any  of 
my  relatives  nor  the  friends  who  had  passed  before  me 
into  the  spirit  land.  But  one  day  when  I  came  as  usual  to 
see  my  beloved,  I  found  her  full  of  some  mysterious  mes- 
sage she  had  received,  and  which  she  was  to  give  me  her- 
self. After  a  little  she  told  me  that  it  was  from  a  spirit 
who  had  come  to  visit  her,  and  who  said  he  was  my  father 
and  that  he  wished  her  to  give  his  message  to  me.  I  was 
so  overcome  when  she  said  this  that  I  could  scarcely 
speak — scarcely  ask  what  his  message  was.  I  had  so  loved 
my  father  upon  earth,  for  my  mother  had  died  when  I  was 
so  young  that  she  was  but  a  faint  tender  memory  to  me. 
But  my  father!  he  had  been  everything  to  me.  He  had 
had  such  pride  and  joy  in  all  my  successes,  such  hopes  for 
my  future;  and,  then,  when  I  had  made  shipwreck  of  my 
life,  I  knew  that  I  had  broken  his  heart.  He  did  not  long 
survive  the  crushing  of  all  his  hopes,  and  since  his  death 
I  had  only  thought  of  him  with  pain  and  shame  of  heart. 
And  now  when  I  heard  that  from  beyond  the  gates  of 
Death  he  had  come  to  my  beloved  and  spoken  to  her  of 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.      87 

me,  I  feared  lest  his  words  might  be  but  a  lament  over  his 
buried  hopes,  his  degraded  son,  and  I  cried  out  that  I 
could  not  dare  to  meet  him,  yet  I  longed  to  hear  what  he 
had  said,  and  to  know  if  there  was  in  it  a  word  of  forgive- 
ness for  me,  his  son,  who  had  so  deeply  sinned. 

How  shall  I  tell  what  his  words  had  been?  How  say 
what  I  felt  to  hear  them?  They  fell  upon  my  heart  as 
dew  upon  a  thirsty  land,  those  words  of  his,  and  are  far, 
far  too  precious  to  be  given  to  the  world,  but  surely  the 
father  in  the  parable  must  have  welcomed  back  his  prodi- 
gal son  in  some  such  words  as  these!  Ah!  how  I  cried  out 
to  my  beloved  when  I  heard  those  words,  and  how  I 
longed  to  see  that  father  again  and  be  taken  once  more  to 
hi.-  heart  as  when  I  was  a  boy!  And  as  I  turned  away  I 
beheld  his  spirit  standing  by  us,  just  as  I  had  seen  him 
last  in  life,  only  with  a  glory  of  the  spirit  world  upon 
him  such  as  no  mortal  eyes  have  ever  seen.  My  father — 
so  long  parted  from  me,  and  to  meet  again  thus!  We  had 
no  words  to  greet  each  other  with  but  "My  father'  and 
"My  son,"  but  we  clasped  each  other  to  the  heart  in  a 
joy  that  required  no  words. 

When  our  feelings  had  calmed  down  again  we  began 
to  speak  of  many  things,  and  not  least  of  her  whose  love 
had  led  me  so  far  upon  my  upward  path,  and  then  I 
learned  that  this  beloved  father  had  helped,  watched  over, 
and  protected  us  both;  that  he  had  followed  me  during  all 
my  wanderings  both  on  earth  and  in  the  spirit  land,  and 
had  protected  and  comforted  me  in  my  struggles.  Unseen 
himself  he  had  yet  been  near,  and  unceasing  in  his  efforts 
and  his  love.  All  this  time  when  I  had  so  shrunk  from 
the  thought  of  meeting  him  he  had  been  there,  only  wait- 
ing an  opportunity  to  make  himself  known,  and  he  had 
come  at  last  through  her  who  had  so  much  of  my  love,  in 
order  that  he  might  thereby  link  us  all  three  more  closely 
together  in  the  joy  of  this  reunion. 


88      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

When  I  returned  to  the  spirit  land,  my  father  wont 
with  me  and  we  spent  a  long  time  together.  In  the 
course  of  our  conversation  he  told  me  that  an  expedition 
was  about  to  he  sent  from  this  sphere  to  work  as 
"Rescuers"  in  the  lowest  sphere  of  all,  a  sphere  helow  any 
I  had  yet  seen  and  which  was  in  truth  the  hell  believed  in 
by  the  church.  How  long  the  expedition  would  be  absent 
was  not  known,  but  a  certain  work  had  to  be  accom- 
plished, and  like  an  invading  army  we  would  remain  till 
•we  had  attained  our  object. 

My  Eastern  guide  advised  me  to  join  this  band  of 
workers,  and  as  my  father  had  in  earth  life  sent  his  sons 
forth  to  fight  for  their  beloved  country,  so  'did  he  now 
wish  me  to  go  forth  with  this  army  of  soldiers  in  the 
cause  of  Truth  and  Light  and  Hope.  To  fight  success- 
fully against  these  powers  of  evil,  it  was  necessary  to  be 
beyond  the  temptations  of  the  earth  plane  and  lower 
spheres,  and  to  help  the  unhappy  ones  by  a  visible  help 
which  they  could  see  and  take  hold  of,  one  must  not 
belong  to  the  higher  spheres,  for  spirits  more  advanced 
than  the  Brothers  of  Hope  in  this,  the  first  circle  of  the 
second  sphere,  would  be  quite  invisible  to  the  unhappy 
ones  who  could  neither  see  nor  hear  them.  Also  in  enter- 
ing these  lowest  spheres  we  would,  in  order  to  be  visible, 
have  to  clothe  ourselves  in  a  certain  portion  of  their 
material  elements,  and  this  a  more  advanced  spirit  could 
not  do.  So  that  although  unseen  helpers  from  the  higher 
spheres  would  accompany  the  expedition  to  protect  and 
assist  us,  they  would  be  invisible  alike  to  ourselves  and 
those  we  had  come  to  help. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIEIT  LAXDS.      89 

Those  who  were  to  go  upon  this  expedition  with  me 
were  similar  to  myself  in  disposition,  and  it  was  felt  that 
we  would  all  learn  much  from  seeing  to  what  our  passion- 
ate feelings  would  have  sunk  us,  had  we  indulged  in  them. 
At  the  same  time  we  would  be  able  to  rescue  from  those 
dark  spheres  many  poor  repentant  souls.  Those  whom 
we  rescued  would  be  taken  to  where  I  had  been  on  my 
first;  passing  over  from  earth  life,  where  there  were 
numerous  institutions  specially  set  apart  for  such  poor 
spirits.,  presided  over  and  attended  by  spirits  who  had 
themselves  been  rescued  from  the  Kingdoms  of  Hell  and 
who  were  therefore  best  fitted  to  aid  these  poor  wanderers. 

Besides  the  Brothers  of  Hope  from  the  Land  of 
Dawn,  there  were  other  similar  bands  from  other  brother- 
hoods always  being  sent  down  to  the  dark  spheres,  such 
expeditions  being,  in  fact,  part  of  the  great  system  of  help 
for  sinners  ever  being  carried  on  in  the  name  of  the 
Eternal  Father  of  all,  who  dooms  none  of  his  children  to 
an  eternity  of  misery. 

A  number  of  friends  would  accompany  us  a  part  of 
our  journey,  and  our  expedition  would  be  commanded  by 
a  leader  who  had  himself  been  rescued  from  the  dark 
spheres  and  who  knew  their  especial  dangers. 

As  we  would  pass  through  the  earth  plane  and  lower 
spheres  we  would  see  them  in  a  way  we  had  not  done  be- 
fore, and  my  Eastern  guide  said  he  would  send  one  of  his 
pupils  to  accompany  me  as  far  as  the  lowest  sphere,  in 
order  that  he  might  explain  to  me  and  make  visible  some 
of  the  mysteries  of  the  astral  plane  which  we  would  see  as 
we  passed.  Hassein  (as  the  student  was  named)  was 
studying  those  mysteries  of  nature  which  have  been 
classed  under  the  name  of  magic  and  as  such  deemed 
evil,  whereas  it  is  their  abuse  only  which  is  evil.  A  more 
extended  intelligent  knowledge  of  them  would  tend  to 
prevent  many  existing  evils  and  counteract  some  of  those 
evil  powers  brought  to  bear  upon  man,  often  very  in- 
juriously, in  his  present  helpless  ignorance.  This  student 
spirit  had  been  a  Persian  and  a  follower  of  Zoroaster  in 
his  earth  life,  as  Ahrinziman  himself  had  been,  and  they 


00      A  WANDEREB  IN"  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

belonged  still  to  that  school  of  thought  of  which  Zoroaster 
was  the  great  exponent. 

"In  the  spirit  world."  said  Ahrinziman,  "there  arc  a 
great  number  of  different  schools  of  thought,  all  contain- 
ing the  great  fundamental  eternal  truths  of  nature,  but 
each  differing  in  many  minor  details,  and  also  as  to  how 
these  great  truths  should  he  applied  for  the  advancement 
of  the  soul;  they  likewise  differ  as  to  how  their  respective 
theories  will  work  out.  and  the  conclusions  to  he  drawn 
from  the  Undoubted  knowledge  they  possess,  when  it  is 
applied  to  subjects  upon  which  they  have  no  certain 
knowledge  and  which  are  still  with  them  as  with  those 
on  earth,  the  subject  of  speculation,  theory,  and  discus- 
sion. It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  in  the  spirit  world 
of  our  planet  there  is  any  absolute  knowledge  which  can 
explain  all  the  great  mysteries  of  Creation,  the  why  and 
wherefore  of  our  being,  the  existence  of  so  much  evil 
mixed  with  the  good,  or  the  nature  of  the  soul  and  how  it 
comes  from  God. 

"The  waves  of  truth  are  continually  flowing  from 
the  great  thought  centers  of  the  Universe,  and  are  trans- 
mitted to  earth  through  chains  of  spirit  intelligences,  but 
each  spirit  can  only  transmit  such  portions  of  truth  as  his 
development  has  enabled  him  to  understand,  and  each 
mortal  can  only  receive  as  much  knowledge  as  his  intellec- 
tual faculties  are  able  to  assimilate  and  comprehend. 

"Neither  spirits  nor  mortals  can  know  everything, 
and  spirits  can  only  give  you  what  are  the  teachings 
which  their  own  particular  schools  of  thought  and  ad- 
vanced teachers  give  as  their  explanations.  Beyond  this 
they  cannot  go,  for  beyond  this  they  do  not  themselves 
know;  there  is  no  more  absolute  certainty  in  the  spirit 
world  than  on  earth,  and  those  who  assert  that  they  have 
the  true  and  only  explanation  of  these  great  mysteries  are 
giving  you  merely  what  they  have  been  taught  by  more 
advanced  spirits,  who,  with  all  due  deference  to  them,  are 
no  more  entitled  to  speak  absolutely  than  the  most  ad- 
vanced teachers  of  some  other  school.  I  assert  with 
knowledge  not  my  own,  but  from  another  who  is  indeed 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      91 

regarded  in  the  spirit  world  as  a  leader  of  most  advanced 
thought,  that  it  is  in  no  way  possible  to  give  a  final  answer 
to  or  explanation  of  subjects  which  are  beyond  the  powers 
of  any  spirit  of  our  entire  solar  system  to  solve,  and  still 
more  beyond  those  of  the  spirits  of  our  earth  spheres.  In 
these  subjects  and  their  explanation  are  involved  and  re- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  limits  of  the  universe  itself 
which  has  no  limits,  and  the  nature  of  that  Supreme 
Being  of  whom  no  man  or  spirit  can  know  the  nature,  save 
in  so  far  as  we  can  grasp  the  great  truth  that  he  is  Infinite 
Spirit,  limitless  in  all  senses.  Unknowable  and  Unknown. 
"Let  men  and  spirits,  then,  argue  or  explain,  they 
can  only  teach  you  to  the  limits  of  their  own  knowledge 
and  beyond  that  again  are  limits  none  can  reach.  How 
can  any  pretend  to  show  you  the  ultimate  end  of  that 
which  has  no  end,  or  sound  the  great  depths  of  an  infinite 
thought  which  has  no  bottom?  Thought  is  as  eternal  as 
life  and  as  fathomless.  Spirit  is  infinite  and  all-pervading. 
God  is  in  all  and  over  and  above  all,  yet  none  know  his 
nature  nor  what  manner  of  essence  he  is  of,  save  that  he 
is  in  everything  and  everywhere.  The  mind  of  man  must 
pause  on  the  very  threshold  of  his  inquiries,  appalled  by 
the  sense  of  his  own  littleness,  and  the  most  he  can  do  is 
sto  learn  humbly  and  study  cautiously,  that  each  step  be 
assured  before  he  essays  again  to  climb.  The  most  lofty, 
the  most  daring  minds  cannot  grasp  all  at  once,  and  can 
man  on  earth  hope  that  all  can  be  explained  to  him  with 
his  limited  range  of  vision,  when  the  most  advanced 
minds  in  the  spirit  world  are  ever  being  checked  in  their 
explorations  after  truth  by  the  sense  of  their  limited 
powers?" 


92      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

The  friend  whom  Ahrinziman  sent  to  accompany  and 
instruct  me,  appeared  to  my  eyes  as  a  youth  of  about  five- 
and-twenty  to  thirty  years  of  age,  judging  by  earth's 
standard  in  such  matters,  but  he  told  me  he  had  lived  to 
upwards  of  sixty  years  on  earth.  His  present  appearance 
was  that  of  his  spiritual  development,  which  alone  con- 
stitutes the  age  of  a  spirit.  As  a  spirit  grows  more  highly 
developed  in  his  intellectual  powers,  the  appearance  be- 
comes more  matured,  till  at  last  he  assumes  that  of  a  sage, 
without,  however,  the  wrinkles  and  defects  of  age  in  earth 
life,  only  its  dignity,  its  power,  and  its  experience.  Thus, 
when  a  spirit  has  attained  to  the  highest  possible  develop- 
ment of  the  earth  (or  any  other  planet's)  spheres  he  would 
possess  the  appearance  of  one  of  its  patriarchs,  and  would 
then  pass  into  the  higher  and  more  extended  spheres  of 
the  solar  system  of  that  planet,  beginning  there  as  a  youth 
again  since  his  development  compared  to  that  of  the 
advanced  spirits  of  those  higher  spheres  would  be  but  that 
of  a  youth. 

Hassein  told  me  that  he  was  at  present  studying  the 
various  powers  and  forms  of  nature  in  those  stages  which 
were  below  soul  life,  and  would  be  able  to  make  visible 
and  explain  to  me  many  curious  things  we  should  see 
upon  our  journey. 

"Many  spirits,"  he  said,  "pass  through  the  sphere  of 
the  astral  plane  without  being  conscious  of  its  spectral  in- 
habitants, by  reason  of  the  fact  that  their  senses  are  not 
developed  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  become  con- 
scious of  their  surroundings  in  all  their  entirety,  just  as 
in  earth  life  there  are  many  persons  quite  unable  to  see 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.       93 

the  spirits  around  them,  although  to  others  again  they  are 
perfectly  visible.  There  are  upon  earth  persons  who  can 
see  not  alone  the  spirits  of  human  beings  but  also  these 
astral  and  elementary  beings  who  are  not  truly  'spirits,' 
since  that  word  should  be  used  to  denote  only  those  which 
possess  within  them  the  soul  germ.  Now  many  of  these 
beings  which  we  shall  see  never  possessed  any  soul,  and 
others  again  are  only  the  empty  shells  from  which  the 
soul  germ  has  departed.  To  distinguish  between  the  soul 
spirit  and  the  soulless  astral  one  must  possess  a  double 
power  of  soul-sight  or  clairvoyance  as  it  is  termed,  and 
many  who  possess  only  an  imperfect  degree  of  this  double 
power '  will  be  able  to  see  elementals  and  astrals,  but 
without  being  able  to  distinguish  them  clearly  from  the 
soul  enveloping  spirit  forms.  Hence  much  confusion  and 
many  mistakes  have  arisen  amongst  these  imperfect  clair- 
voyants as  to  the  nature  and  attributes  of  these  classes  of 
beings.  There  are  seven  degrees  of  the  soul-sight  found 
in  persons  yet  in  the  earth  life;  and  in  the  next  stage  of 
life  the  spiritual  part  or  soul  being  freed  from  the  gross 
elements  of  material  life,  there  will  be  found  seven  more 
expansions  of  this  gift,  and  so  on  in  progressive  succession 
as  the  soul  casts  off  one  by  one  the  envelopes  of  matter — 
first  the  most  gross  or  earthly  matter,  then  succeeding 
degrees  of  refined  or  sublimated  matter,  for  we  hold 
that  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  entire  severance  be- 
tween soul  and  matter — that  is  so  long  as  it  is  conscious 
of  existence  in  any  of  our  solar  systems.  Beyond  these 
limits  we  have  no  knowledge  to  guide  us,  and  it  is  a  matter 
of  pure  speculation.  It  is  only  a  question  of  the  degree 
and  quality  of  the  matter  which  is  more  or  less  refined 
and  etherealized  as  the  soul  is  in  a  higher  or  lower  state  of 
development.  It  is  of  the  first  stage  of  earthly  conscious 
soul  life  that  I  shall  now  speak  in  speaking  of  the  clair- 
voyant sight,  leaving  till  another  time  the  theories  and 
beliefs  involved  in  the  study  of  what  has  passed  before 
man's  present  conscious  stage  of  existence  and  what  may 
happen  when  he  passes  beyond  the  limits  of  our  present 
knowledge. 


94      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

"We  find,  then,  in  the  earthly  stage  of  life  person? — 
most  often  women  or  very  young  boys — who  are  endowed 
with  some  or  all  of  these  seven  degrees  of  soul-sight.  The 
first  three  degrees  are  very  often  found,  the  fourth  and 
fifth  more  rarely,  while  the  sixth  and  seventh  are  hardly 
ever  met  with  except  in  persons  endowed  with  certain 
peculiarities  of  organization,  due  to  those  astrological  in- 
fluences under  which  they  are  born — particularly  to  those 
prevailing  at  the  exact  moment  the  child  sees  the  light  of 
earth  life.  So  rare  are  these  perfect  sixth  and  seventh 
degrees  that  very  few  possess  them,  though  sonic  are 
found  with  an  imperfect  sixth  and  none  of  the  seventh, 
in  which  case  they  can  never  attain  to  the  perfection  of 
soul-sight,  and  as  with  imperfect  glasses,  the  defect  in 
their  sight  will  cause  them  to  have  an  imperfect  vision  of 
celestial  things,  and  although  they  will  see  into  the  sixth 
sphere  in  a  sense,  yet  their  defective  power  will  greatly 
impair  the  value  of  what  they  see. 

"Those,  however,  who  have  the  perfect  sixth  and 
seventh  degrees  can  be  taken  in  spirit  into'  the  seventh 
sphere  itself,  which  is  the  highest,  or  heaven  of  the  earth 
spheres,  and  like  St.  John  of  old  they  shall  see  unspeak- 
able things.  To  do  this  the  soul  requires  to  be  freed 
from  all  ties  to  the  material  body,  save  only  the  slender 
thread  without  which  connecting  link  body  and  soul 
would  part  forever.  Thus  they  may  be  said  to  be  out  of 
the  body  at  such  times,  and  so  difficult  and  dangerous  is 
it  to  thus  take  the  soul  into  the  seventh  sphere,  that  only 
with  exceptional  persons  and  under  very  exceptional  cir- 
cumstances can  it  be  done  even  where  the  power  exists. 
Of  the  clairvoyants  of  the  lower  degrees  of  power  the 
same  may  be  said,  except  that  the  less  celestial  their 
powers,  the  more  safely  and  easily  may  they  be  used,  each 
clairvoyant  being  able  to  see  into  that  sphere  which  cor- 
responds to  the  degree  of  power  which  they  possess.  It 
is,  however,  a  curious  fact  that  many  clairvoyants  possess 
one  or  more  perfect  degrees  of  soul-sight  with  at  the  same 
time  an  imperfect  form  of  a  degree  still  higher,  and  when 
this  is  so  it  will  be  found  that  the  medium  mixes  the 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      95 

visions  seen  and  is  not  reliable,  since  the  defective  degree 
(if  used)  will  act  like  a  defective  eye  and  cause  that  which 
is  beheld  by  both  eyes  at  the  same  time  to  partake  of  its 
imperfections.  It  is,  therefore,  far  better  to  have  the 
entire  absence  of  a  degree  than  to  possess  an  imperfect 
form  of  it,  since  the  imperfect  one  only  causes  confusion 
in  using  the  perfect  ones,  unless  indeed  you  do  with  these 
powers  as  you  might  do  with  the  defective  eye,  and  close 
it  altogether  in  order  that  the  vision,  though  limited, 
may  be  correct.  Thus  the  ancients  when  they  found  the 
highest  amount  of  perfect  vision  of  one  or  more  degrees 
in  their  pupils,  arrested  their  further  development  at  that 
degree  before  the  imperfect  sight  of  a  higher  one  could  in 
any  way  impair  the  value  of  those  they  possessed.  In  this 
way  they  were  able  to  train  as  reliable  clairvoyants  of 
moderate  powers  many  who  by  a  further  effort  at  de- 
velopment would  have  lost  far  more  than  they  could  gain. 
In  olden  days  seers  were  divided  into  classes  even  as  they 
still  are  amongst  certain  schools  of  prophets  in  the  East, 
though  now  the  art  is  not  studied  to  the  perfection  it  once 
was  when  the  Eastern  nations  were  a  power  upon  earth. 

"Each  class  underwent  a  special  training  adapted  to 
their  special  degrees  of  power  and  class  of  gifts,  and  there 
was  not  the  present  curious  mixture  of  great  gifts  and 
entire  ignorance  of  how  to  use  them  wisely,  which  in 
many  instances  results  in  so  many  inaccuracies  and  so 
much  harm  both  to  mediums  and  to  those  who  go  to  them 
for  spiritual  knowledge.  As  well  might  a  trainer  of 
young  gymnasts  think  that  he  could  overtax  and  strain 
the  growing  muscles  without  lasting  harm  to  them,  as 
those  who  make  an  ignorant,  unlimited,  and  indiscrimi- 
nate use  and  development  of  the  mediumistic  powers.  A 
young  fledgling  cast  from  the  nest  too  soon  flutters  and 
falls  to  the  ground,  while  if  left  till  the  wings  are  strong 
enough  to  bear  its  flight  it  will  soar  to  heaven  itself. 
"With  more  extended  knowledge  upon  earth  there  will  be 
given  to  certain  sensitives  endowed  with  the  needful 
mediumistic  powers  the  knowledge  by  which  under  the 
guidance  of  those  higher  intelligences  who  are  directing 


96      A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

the  great  spiritual  movement,  they  can  judge  between  the 
Bpirits  of  low  and  degraded  states  and  those  of  a  higher 
degree  of  advancement,  and  thus  much  of  the  confusion 
and  danger  which  still  hampers  the  movement  will  be 
gradually  eliminated  from  it. 

"On  the  spirit  side  of  life  are  many  teachers  who  for 
centuries  have  made  a  study  of  these  subjects — of  all 
forms  of  life — and  of  the  mediumistic  powers  of  those 
who  are  incarnated  upon  earth,  and  they  are  even  now 
seeking  on  all  sides  for  open  doors  through  which  to  im- 
part such  knowledge  as  may  be  of  use  to  man.  Much 
which  they  know  could  not  yet  be  imparted,  but  there  are 
things  which  could,  and  with  this  subject  as  with  all 
others  the  minds  upon  earth  will  expand  and  develop  as 
knowledge  is  given.*' 

I  thanked  my  new  friend  for  his  information  and 
promised  help,  and  as  the  expedition  was  soon  to  start  I 
went  to  earth  to  bid  adieu  for  a  time  to  my  beloved.  Upon 
our  parting  I  shall  not  dwell,  nor  say  how  much  we  both 
felt  we  should  miss  our  constant  little  intercourse;  for 
even  restricted  as  it  was  by  the  barrier  between  us,  it  had 
been  a  great  joy  to  both. 

I  found  on  my  return  that  the  preparations  for  our 
journey  were  now  complete,  and  I  was  summoned  to  bid 
my  father  and  others  adieu,  and  to  join  my  companions 
in  the  great  hall  where  they  were  now  assembled  to 
receive  the  farewell  benediction  of  our  Grand  Master. 

After  this  our  band  started  amidst  the  cheers  and 
good  wishes  of  all  the  assembled  Brotherhood. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.      97 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

I  can  hardly  give  you  a  better  idea  of  the  course  of 
our  journey  than  by  asking  you  to  imagine  a  vast  spiral 
or  corkscrew  winding  upwards  and  downwards  in  circling 
rings.  A  tiny  speck  no  bigger  than  a  pin's  head  in  the 
middle  of  a  large  cart-wheel  might  represent  the  earth  in 
the  centre  of  these  circling  rings,  an  equal  number  of 
which  are  above  and  below  the  earth,  all  winding  in  a 
connected  series  from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  around 
this  speck,  and  the  head  of  the  spiral  pointing  towards 
our  central  sun — this  being  regarded  as  the  highest  point 
of  the  most  advanced  sphere. 

This  will  give  you  a  faint  idea  of  the  earth  and  its 
attendant  spirit  spheres,  and  help  you  to  understand  how 
in  our  journey  we  passed  from  the  second  into  the  lowest 
sphere,  and  in  doing  so  passed  through  the  earth  plane. 
As  we  entered  it  I  perceived  many  spirits  of  mortals 
hurrying  to  and  fro  just  as  I  had  been  wont  to  see  them, 
but  now  for  the  first  time  I  also  saw  that  mingling  with 
them  were  many  floating  spectral  shapes  similar  to  those 
wraiths  I  had  seen  haunting  the  spirit  in  the  icy  cage  in 
the  Frozen  Land.  These  wraiths  seemed  to  be  floating  to 
and  fro  like  driftweed  upon  a  seashore,  borne  here  and 
there  by  the  different  astral  currents  which  revolve  and 
circle  round  the  earth. 

Some  were  very  distinct  and  life-like  till  a  closer 
inspection  revealed  to  me  that  the  light  of  intelligence 
was  wanting  in  their  eyes  and  expressions,  and  there  was 
a  helpless  collapsed  look  about  them  like  wax  dolls  from 
which  the  stuffing  has  run  out.     For  the  life  of  me  I  can 


98      A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

Hi  ink  of  nothing  that  will  so  well  express  their  appear- 
ance. 

In  my  former  wanderings  through  the  earth  plane  I 
had  not  been  conscious  of  any  of  these  beings,  and  on 
asking  Hussein  the  reason  of  this  he  answered:  "First, 
because  you  were  so  much  absorbed  in  your  work,  and 
secondly,  your  powers  of  sight  were  not  sufficiently  de- 
veloped. Now  look,"  he  added,  pointing  to  a  strange 
little  group  of  heings  like  elves  which  were  approaching 
us  hand  in  hand,  gamboling  like  children.  "Look  at 
those;  they  are  the  mental  and  bodily  emanations  cast  off 
from  the  minds  and  bodies  of  children  which  consolidate 
into  these  queer,  harmless  little  elementals  when  brought 
into  contact  with  any  of  the  great  life  currents  that  circle 
around  the  earth,  and  which  bear  upon  their  waves  the 
living  emanations  cast  off  from  men,  women  and  children. 
These  curious  little  beings  have  no  real  separate  intelli- 
•gent  life  such  as  a  soul  would  give,  and  they  are  so 
evanescent  and  ethereal  that  they  take  their  shapes  and 
change  them,  as  you  will  observe,  like  the  clouds  on  a 
summer  sky.  See  how  they  are  all  dissolving  and  form- 
ing again  afresh." 

As  I  looked  I  saw  the  whole  little  cloud  of  figures 
shift  into  a  new  form  of  grotesque  likeness,  and  whereas 
they  had  looked  like  tiny  fairies  in  caps  and  gowns  made 
from  flowers,  they  now  took  wings,  becoming  like  a  species 
of  half  butterflies,  half  imps,  with  human  bodies,  animal's 
heads,  and  butterflies'  wings.  Then  as  a  fresh  strong 
wave  of  magnetism  swept  over  them,  lo!  they  were  all 
broken  up  and  carried  away  to  form  fresh  groups  else- 
where with  other  particles. 

I  was  so  astonished  at  this,  the  real  living  appear- 
ance and  the  unreal  disappearance,  that  I  suppose  Hassein 
read  my  puzzled  state  of  mind,  for  he  said,  "What  you 
have  now  beheld  is  only  an  ethereal  form  of  elemental  life, 
which  is  not  material  enough  for  a  long  continued  exist- 
ence on  the  earth  plane,  and  is  like  the  foam  of  the  sea 
thrown  up  by  the  wave  motions  of  pure  earthly  lives  and 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.       99 

thoughts.     See  now  how  much    stronger    on  the  astral 
plane  can  be  the  consistency  of  that  which  is  not  pure." 

I  beheld  approaching  us  a  great  mass  of  aerial  forms, 
dark,  misshapen,  human,  yet  inhuman,  in  appearance. 
"These,"  said  he,  "are  the  beings  which  haunt  the  de- 
lirium of  the  drunkard,  which  gather  round  him,  drawn 
by  his  corrupted  magnetism  and  unable  to  be  repelled  by 
one  who  has  lost  the  will-force  needful  to  protect  him 
from  such  creatures  which  cling  like  barnacles  to  him,  and 
like  leeches  suck  his  animal  vitality  with  a  strange  ghoul- 
ish intelligence  akin  to  that  of  some  noisome  plant  which 
has  fastened  itself  upon  a  tree.  For  such  a  one  as  the 
unfortunate  drunkard  the  best  help  which  can  be  given  is 
by  obtaining  some  one  upon  the  earth  side  of  life  who 
possesses  a  strong  will  and  mesmeric  powers,  and  let  him 
place  the  drunkard  under  the  protection  of  his  will  and 
the  strong  influence  of  his  magnetism,  till  the  last  of  these 
phantoms  drops  off  from  inability  to  hold  on  longer  under 
the  stream  of  healthy  magnetism  poured  upon  them  and 
the^fcnlucky  man  upon  whom  they  have  fastened.  The 
healthy  magnetism  acts  like  a  poison  upon  these  crea- 
tures, and  kills  them  so  that  they  drop  off,  and  their 
bodies,  unable  to  hold  together,  decay  into  immaterial 
dust.  Should  these  beings,  however,  not  encounter  such 
a  strong  dose  of  healthy  magnetism  they  will  go  on  for 
years  floating  about  and  drawing  away  the  animal  vitality 
of  one  human  being  after  another,  till  at  last  they  become 
endowed  with  a  certain  amount  of  independent  animal  life 
of  their  own.  At  this  stage  they  can  be  used  by  higher, 
more  intelligent  beings  to  carry  out  such  work  as  their 
peculiar  organizations  fit  them  for,  and  it  is  these  soulless 
creatures,  though  created  and  earth-nourished,  whom  a 
certain  class  of  practitioners  of  the  so-called  black  magic 
made  use  of  in  some  of  their  experiments,  as  well  as  for 
carrying  out  their  evil  designs  against  any  one  who  had 
offended  them.  But  like  deadly  weeds  at  the  bottom  of 
a  dark  pool,  these  astrals  draw  down  and  destroy  in  their 
soulless  clutches  those  who  venture  to  meddle  with  them 
unprotected  by  the  higher  powers." 


100    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

"And  now  tell  me,  friend  Hussein/'  said  I,  "if  these 
astralSj  when  they  fasten  upon  a  drunkard,  can  or  do 
influence  him  to  drink  more,  as  is  the  case  when  the  earth- 
bound  spirit  of  a  departed  drunkard  controls  one  still  in 
the  flesh." 

"No!  These  beings  do  not  derive  any  pleasure  from 
the  drink  a  man  swallows,  except  in  so  far  as  by  corrupt- 
ing his  magnetism  it  makes  him  such  that  they  can  more 
readily  feed  upon  him.  It  is  his  animal  or  earthly  life- 
force  they  desire.  It  means  existence  for  them  and  is 
much  the  same  as  water  to  a  plant,  and  beyond  the  fact 
that  by  draining  the  victim  of  his  vitality  they  cause  a 
sense  of  exhaustion  which  makes  him  fly  to  stimulants 
for  relief,  they  do  not  affect  the  question  of  his  continuing 
to  drink.  They  are  mere  parasites,  and  possess  no  intelli- 
gence of  their  own  except  of  so  rudimentary  a  character 
that  we  can  scarcely  give  it  that  name. 

"To  originate  a  thought  or  to  impress  your  thoughts 
upon  another  requires  the  possession  of  an  intelligent 
soul  germ  or  spark  of  the  divine  essence,  and  oncegthis 
has  been  given  the  being  becomes  possessed  of  an  in- 
dependent individuality  it  can  never  again  lose.  It  may 
cast  off  envelope  after  envelope,  or  it  may  sink  into  grosser 
and  still  grosser  forms  of  matter,  but  once  endowed  with 
soul-life  it  can  never  cease  to  exist,  and  in  existing  must 
retain  the  individuality  of  its  nature  and  the  responsibility 
of  its  actions.  This  is  alike  true  of  the  human  soul  and 
the  intelligent  soul-principle  as  manifested  in  the  animals 
or  lower  types  of  soul  existence.  Whenever  you  see  the 
power  to  reason  and  to  act  upon  such  reasoning  man- 
ifested either  in  man,  the  highest  type,  or  in  animals,  the 
lower  type,  you  may  know  that  a  soul  exists,  and  it  is  only 
a  question  of  degree  of  purity  of  soul  essence.  We  see 
in  man  and  in  the  brute  creation  alike  a  power  of  reason- 
ing intelligence  differing  only  in  degree,  and  from  this 
fact  the  school  of  thought  to  which  I  belong  draws  the 
inference  that  both  alike  have  a  conscious  individual  im- 
mortality, differing,  however,  in  the  type  and  degree  of 
tuul  essence,  animals  as  well  as  men  having  an  immortal 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     101 

future  for  development  before  them.  What  are  the  limits 
of  the  action  of  this  law  we  cannot  pretend  to  say,  but  we 
draw  our  conclusions  from  the  existence  in  the  spirit 
world  of  animals  as  well  as  men  who  have  alike  lived  on 
earth,  and  both  of  whom  are  found  in  a  more  advanced 
state  of  development  than  they  were  in  their  earth  ex- 
istences. 

"It  is  impossible  for  the  soulless  parasite  to  influence 
the  mind  of  any  mortal;  and  it  is  therefore  undoubtedly 
the  souls  which  have  been  incarnated  in  earthly  bodies 
and  have  so  indulged  their  lower  passions  in  that  state 
that  they  are  not  able  to  free  themselves  from  the  fetters 
of  their  astral  envelopes,  that  haunt  the  earth  and  incite 
those  yet  in  the  flesh  to  indulgence  in  drink  and  similar 
vices.  They,  as  you  know,  can  control  man  in  many  ways. 
either  partially  or  completely,  and  the  most  common  way 
is  for  the  spirit  to  partly  envelop  the  man  he  controls 
with  his  spirit  body  until  a  link  has  been  formed  between 
them,  somewhat  after  the  nature  of  that  uniting  some 
twin  children  who  possess  distinct  bodies,  but  are  so 
joined  to  each  other  and  interblended  that  all  which  one 
feels  is  felt  by  the  other.  In  this  fashion  what  is 
swallowed  by  the  mortal  is  enjoyed  by  the  spirit  who 
controls  the  unfortunate  man,  and  who  urges  him  to  drink 
as  much  as  possible,  and  when  he  can  no  longer  do  so  the 
spirit  will  then  try  to  free- himself  and  go  elsewhere  in 
search  of  some  other  weak-willed  man  or  woman  of  de- 
praved tastes.  Not  always,  however,  can  either  the  spirit 
or  the  mortal  free  themselves  from  the  strange  link  woven 
between  them  by  the  indulgence  of  their  joint  desires. 
After  a  long-continued  connection  of  this  sort  it  becomes 
very  difficult  for  them  to  separate,  and  the  spirit  and  the 
man  may  go  on  for  years  sick  of  each  other  yet  unable  to 
break  the  tie  without  help  from  the  higher  powers,  who 
are  always  ready  to  assist  those  who  call  upon  their  aid. 
Should  a  spirit  continue  to  control  men  for  the  purpose 
of  self-gratification  as  I  have  described,  he  sinks  lower 
and  lower,  and  drags  his  victims  down  with  him  into  the 
depths  of  hell  itself,  from  which  they  will  both  have  a 


102    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

bitter  and  weary  task  to  climb  when  at  last  the  desire  for 
better  things  shall  awaken.  To  a  soul  alone  belongs  the 
power  to  think  and  to  will,  and  those  other  soulless  crea- 
tures but  obey  the  laws  of  attraction  and  repulsion,  which 
are  felt  likewise  by  all  the  material  atoms  of  which  the 
universe  is  composed,  and  even  when  these  astral  parasites 
have,  by  long  feeding  upon  the  vital  force  of  men  or 
women,  attained  to  a  certain  amount  of  independent  life, 
they  have  no  intelligence  to  direct  their  own  or  others' 
movements;  they  float  about  like  fever  germs  generated 
in  a  foul  atmosphere,  attracted  to  one  person  more  readily 
than  to  another,  and  like  such  germs  may  be  said  to 
possess  a  very  low  form  of  life. 

"Another  class  of  elemental  astrals  are  those  of  the 
earth,  air,  fire,  and  water,  whose  bodies  are  formed  from 
the  material  life  germs  in  each  element.  Some  are  in 
appearance  like  the  gnomes  and  elves  who  are  said  to 
"inhabit  mines  and  mountain  caverns  which  have  never 
been  exposed  to  the  light  of  day.  Such,  too,  are  the 
fairies  whom  men  have  seen  in  lonely  and  secluded  places 
amongst  primitive  races  of  men.  Such,  with  the  varia- 
tions caused  by  the  different  natures  of  the  elements  from 
which  they  are  formed,  are  the  water  sprites  and  the  mer- 
maids of  ancient  fable,  and  the  spirits  of  the  fire  and  the 
spirits  of  the  air. 

"All  these  beings  possess  life,  but  as  yet  no  souls,  for 
their  lives  are  drawn  from  and  sustained  by  the  lives  of 
earthhr  men  and  women,  and  the}'  are  but  reflections  of 
the  men  amongst  whom  they  dwell.  Some  of  these  beings 
are  of  a  very  low  order  of  life,  almost  like  the  higher 
orders  of  plants,  except  that  they  possess  an  independent 
power  of  motion.  Others  are  very  lively  and  full  of  gro- 
tesque unmeaning  tricks,  with  the  power  of  very  rapid 
flight  from  place  to  place.  Some  are  perfectly  harmless, 
while  others  again  are  more  malignant  in  their  instincts 
as  the  human  beings  from  whom  their  life  is  drawn  are  of 
a  more  savage  race.  These  curious  earth  elementals  can- 
not exist  long  amongst  nations  where  the  more  in- 
tellectual stage  of  development  has  been  reached,  because 


A  WAXDEBEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     103 

then  the  life  germs  thrown  off  by  man  contain  too  little 
of  the  lower  or  animal  life  to  sustain  them,  and  they  die 
and  their  hodies  decay  into  the  atmosphere.  Thus  as 
nations  advance  and  grow  more  spiritual,  these  lower 
forms  of  life  die  out  from  the  astral  plane  of  that  earth's 
sphere,  and  succeeding  generations  begin  at  first  to  doubt 
and  then  to  deny  that  they  ever  had  an  existence.  Only 
amongst  those  ancient  religions  of  the  East  who  have  kept 
still  unbroken  the  threads  of  record,  are  there  to  be  found 
accounts  of  these  intermediate  dependent  races  of  beings 
and  the  causes  of  their  existence. 

"These  soulless  elementals  of  earth,  air,  fire  and 
water,  are  a  class  distinct  from  those  others  which  I  have 
drawn  you  as  emanating  from  the  debased  intelligence  of 
man's  mind  and  the  evil  actions  of  his  body.  Behold 
now,  oh!  man  of  a  Western  nation,  the  knowledge  which 
your  philosophers  and  learned  men  have  shut  out  and 
locked  away  as  being  harmful  fables,  till  man,  shut  into 
the  narrow  bounds  of  what  he  can  with  his  physical  senses 
alone  see,  hear,  and  feel,  has  begun  to  doubt  if  he  has  any 
soul  at  all,  any  higher,  purer,  nobler  self  than  is  sustained 
by  the  sordid  life  of  earth.  See  now  the  multitudinous 
beings  that  surround  man  on  every  side,  and  ask  yourself 
if  it  would  not  be  well  that  he  should  have  the  knowledge 
which  could  help  to  keep  him  safe  from  the  many  pitfalls 
over  which  he  walks  in  blind  ignorance  and  unconscious- 
ness of  his  danger.  In  the  primitive  ages  of  the  earth 
man  was  content  to  look  like  a  child  for  help  and  succor 
to  his  Heavenly  Eather,  and  God  sent  his  angels  and 
ministering  spirits  to  protect  his  earthly  children.  In 
these  latter  ages  man,  like  a  full-grown  troublesome 
youth,  seeks  in  his  self-conceit  no  higher  help  than  his 
own,  and  rushes  into  danger  with  his  eyes  bandaged  by 
his  pride  and  ignorance.  He  scoffs  at  those  things  which 
he  is  too  limited  in  his  powers  to  understand,  and  turns 
aside  from  those  who  would  instruct  him.  Because  he 
cannot  see  his  soul,  cannot  weigh  it  and  analyze  it,  he  says, 
forsooth,  that  man  has  no  soul  and  had  better  enjoy  this 
earthly  life  as  one  who  shall  some  day  die  and  turn  to  dust 


104    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

again,  consciousness,  individuality,  all  forever  blotted  out. 

"Or,  again,  in  abject  i'ear  of  the  unknown  fate  before 
him,  man  takes  refuge  in  the  vague  superstitions,  the 
shadowy  creeds  of  those  who  profess  to  act  as  guides  upon 
the  pathway  to  the  Unknown  Land,  with  little  more 
certain  knowledge  than  man  has  himself. 

"Thus,  then,  it  is  in  pity  to  his  wandering,  struggling 
children  that  God  has  in  these  later  days  opened  once 
more — and  wider  than  ever  before — the  doors  of  com- 
munion between  the  two  worlds.  He  is  sending  out  again 
messengers  to  warn  man,  ambassadors,  to  tell  him  of  the 
better  way,  the  truer  path  to  the  happiness  of  a  higher 
life,  and  to  show  him  that  knowledge  and  that  power 
which  shall  yet  be  of  right  his  inheritance.  As  the 
prophets  of  old  spake,  so  speak  these  messengers  now,  and 
if  they  speak  with  clearer  voice,  with  less  veiled  metaphor, 
it  is  because  man  is  no  longer  in  his  infancy  and  needs 
now  that  he  should  be  shown  the  reason  and  the  science 
upon  which  his  beliefs  and  hopes  must  be  founded. 

"Listen,  then,  unto  this  voice  that,  calls,  oh!  ye  toilers 
of  the  earth!"  cried  Hassein,  turning  and  stretching  out 
his  hands  towards  a  small  dark  ball  that  seemed  to  float 
far  away  on  the  horizon  of  our  sight — a  small  dark  globe 
that  we  knew  to  be  the  sorrowful  planet  called  Earth. 
"Listen  to  the  voices  that  call  to  you  and  turn  not  a  deaf 
ear,  and  realize  ere  it  be  too  late  that  God  is  not  a  God  of 
the  dead  but  of  the  living,  for  all  things  are  alive  for  ever- 
more. Life  is  everywhere  and  in  everything;  even  the 
dull  earth  and  the  hard  rocks  are  composed  of  living 
germs,  each  living  according  to  its  own  degree.  The  very 
air  we  breathe  and  the  boundless  ether  of  universal  space 
are  full  of  life,  and  there  is  not  one  thought  we  think  but 
lives  for  good  or  ill,  not  one  act  whose  image  shall  not  live 
to  torture  or  to  solace  the  soul  in  the  days  of  its  release 
from  its  incarnation  in  an  earthly  form.  Life  is  in  all 
things,  and  God  is  the  central  Life  of  All." 

Hassein  paused,  then  in  a  calmer  voice  he  said  to  me: 
"Look  yonder!     What  would  you  say  those  things  were?" 

He  pointed  to  what  seemed  to  me  at  first  a  mass  of 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     105 

spirit  forms  which  came  sweeping  towards  us  as  though 
blown  by  a  strong  wind.  As  they  came  near  I  saw  they 
were  evidently  soulless  astral  envelopes,  but  unlike  those 
floating  wraiths  I  had  seen  haunting  the  man  in  the  icy- 
cage,  these  were  solid,  and  to  my  spiritual  sight  life-like 
and  full  of  animal  vigor;  yet  they  were  like  automatons 
and  did  not  seem  to  possess  any  intelligence.  They  were 
drifting  and  bobbing  about  like  buoys  at  sea  to  which 
boats  are  anchored.  As  they  drifted  close  to  us  my  friend 
put  forth  his  will-force  and  captured  one,  which  then 
remained  floating  in  mid  air. 

"Now  look,"  said  he,  "you  will  observe  this  is  some- 
what, like  a  great  living  doll.  It  is  the  result  of  countless 
little  living  germs  which  man  is  continually  throwing  off 
from  his  earthly  body,  emanations  solely  of  his  animal  or 
lower  life,  material  enough  when  brought  into  contact 
with  the  magnetic  forces  of  the  astral  plane,  to  form  into 
these  imitations  of  earthly  men  and  women,  and  im- 
material enough  to  be  invisible  to  man's  purely  material 
sight,  although  a  very  small  degree  of  clairvoyant  power 
would  enable  him  to  see  them.  A  stronger  and  higher 
degree  of  clairvoyant  power  would  enable  him  to  see,  as 
you  do,  that  this  is  not  a  true  spirit  envelope,  since  the 
soul  principle  is  wanting;  and  a  yet  higher  degree  of  clair- 
voyant power  would  show  that  a  soul  has  never  been  in 
this  form,  and  that  it  has  never  had  a  conscious  existence 
as  a  soul's  astral  envelope. 

"Amongst  ordinary  clairvoyants  the  subject  of  astral 
spirits  is  not  studied  sufficiently  to  develop  these  degrees 
of  soul-sight,  therefore  few  clairvoyants  in  your  earthly 
country  could  tell  you  whether  this  was  a  true  soul- 
enveloping  astral  form  or  one  from  which  the  soul  had 
departed,  or  yet  again  one  in  which  the  soul  had  never 
been  present  at  all.  Presently  I  shall  show  you  an  experi- 
ment with  this  astral  form,  but  first  observe  that  being 
such  as  it  is,  it  is  fresh  and  full  of  the  animal  life  of  the 
earth  plane,  and  has  not  the  collapsed  appearance  of  those 
you  saw  before,  which  had  once  contained  a  soul  and 
which  were  there  in  a  state  of  rapid  decay  yet.    And  mark 


10G     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

this  carefully:  this  fresh  looking  astral  will  decay  far 
faster  than  the  others,  for  it  has  none  of  the  higher  prin- 
ciple of  life  clinging  to  it,  which,  in  the  case  of  an  astral 
that  has  once  contained  a  soul,  often  remains  for  a  long 
time  animating  and  keeping  it  from  perfect  decay.  Astral 
forms  must  draw  their  life  from  a  higher  source  (from 
soul  germs  in  fact),  or  they  soon  cease  to  exist  and 
crumble  away." 

"But,"  I  asked,  "how  do  they  assume  the  shapes  of 
men  and  women?*' 

"By  the  action  of  the  spiritualized  magnetic  currents 
which  flow  through  all  the  ether  space  continually,  as  the 
currents  flow  in  the  ocean.  These  magnetic  life  currents 
are  of  a  more  etherealized  degree  than  those  known  to 
scientific  mortals,  being  in  fact  their  spiritual  counter- 
part, and  as  such  they  act  upon  these  cloud  masses  of 
human  atoms  in  the  same  way  that  electricitjr  acts  upon 
the  freezing  moisture  upon  a  window  pane,  forming  them 
into  the  semhlance  of  men  and  women  as  the  electricity 
forms  the  freezing  moisture  into  a  likeness  of  trees, 
plants,  etc. 

"It  is  an  acknowledged  fact  that  electricity  is  an 
active  agent  in  the  formation  of  the  shapes  of  leaves  and 
trees,  etc.,  in  vegetable  life,  hut  few  know  that  this  refined 
form  of  magnetism  has  a  similar  share  in  the  formation  of 
human  forms  and  animal  life.  I  say  animal  life  as 
applied  to  those  types  which  are  lower  than  man." 

"Are  there,  then,  also  the  astral  forms  of  animals?" 

"Certainly,  and  very  queer,  grotesque  combinations 
some  of  them  are.  I  cannot  show  them  to  you  now,  be- 
cause your  powers  of  sight  are  not  yet  fully  developed,  and 
also  because  we  are  traveling  too  rapidly  to  enable  me  to 
develop  them  for  you,  but  some  day  I  shall  show  you 
these,  as  well  as  many  other  curious  things  relating  to  the 
astral  plane.  I  may  tell  you  that  atoms  may  be  classed 
under  different  heads,  and  that  each  class  will  have  a 
special  attraction  for  others  of  its  own  kind;  thus  vege- 
table atoms  will  be  attracted  together  to  form  astral  trees 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     107 

and  plants,  while  animal  atoms  will  form  into  the  sem- 
blance  of  beasts,  birds,  etc.,  and  human  atoms  into  men 
and  women's  forms.  In  some  eases,  where  the  human 
beings  from  whom  the  atoms  come  are  very  low  in  the 
scale  of  humanity  and  nearly  akin  to  animals,  their  atoms 
will  blend  with  those  of  the  lower  forms  of  life  and  create 
grotesque  horrible  creatures  which  resemble  at  once 
animals  and  men,  and  having  been  seen  by  clairvoyants  in 
a  semi-trance  condition  are  described  as  nightmare  vis- 
ions. In  the  earth  spheres  an  immense  amount  of  these 
living  atoms  are  thrown  off  continually  from  man's  lower 
or  animal  life,  and  these  sustain  and  renew  the  astral 
forms,  but  were  we  to  transport  one  of  these  shells  to  a 
planet  whose  spheres  had  been  spiritualized  beyond  the 
stage  of  material  life,  or  in  other  words  freed  from  all 
these  lower  germs,  the  astrals  could  not  exist,  they  would 
become  like  a  noxious  A'apor  and  be  blown  away.  These 
astrals  being,  as  I  have  said,  created  from  the  cloud  masses 
of  human  atoms,  and  never  having  been  the  envelope  of 
any  soul,  are  very  little  more  permanent  in  their  nature 
than  the  frost  flowers  on  a  window  pane,  unless  the  power 
of  some  higher  intelligence  acts  upon  them  to  intensify 
their  vitality  and  prolong  their  existence.  They  are,  as 
you  will  see.  expressionless  and  like  wax  dolls  in  appear- 
ance, and  readily  lend  themselves  to  receive  any  individu- 
ality stamped  upon  them,  hence  their  use  in  ancient  times 
by  magicians  and  others.  Astral  atoms,  whether  of  trees, 
plants,  animals,  or  human  beings,  must  not  be  confounded 
with  the  true  spirit  or  soul-clothing  atoms  which  con- 
stitute the  real  spirit  world  and  its  inhabitants.  Astrals 
of  every  kind  are  the  intermediate  degree  of  materiality 
between  the  gross  matter  of  earth  and  the  more  ethereal- 
ized  matter  of  the  spirit  world,  and  we  talk  of  a  soul 
clothed  in  its  astral  envelope  to  express  that  earth-bound 
condition  in  which  it  is  too  refined  or  immaterial  for  earth 
existence,  and  too  grossly  clad  to  ascend  into  the  spirit 
world  of  the  higher  spheres,  or  to  descend  to  those  of  the 
lower." 

"Then  you  mean  that  a  spirit  even  in  the  lowest 


108    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

sphere  is  more  spiritualized  as  regards  its  body  than  an 
earth-bound  spirit?" 

"Certainly  I  do.  The  astral  plane  extends  like  a  belt 
around  each  planet  and  is,  as  I  said,  formed  of  the  matter 
which  is  too  fine  for  reabsorption  by  the  planet,  and  too 
coarse  to  escape  from  the  attraction  of  the  planet's  mass 
and  pass  into  the  spheres  of  the  spirit  world  to  form  either 
matter  in  the  course  of  disintegration  or  change  from 
one  form  to  another,  and  it  is  only  the  vitalizing  power  of 
such  soul  magnetism  as  it  retains  which  enables  it  to  cling 
together  in  any  shape  at  all. 

"In  the  case  of  human  astral  forms  which  have  pos- 
sessed individualized  life  as  a  soul's  envelope,  the  astral 
atoms  have  absorbed  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  the  soul's 
magnetism,  or  true  life  essence,  according  as  the  earthly 
existence  of  the  soul  has  been  good  or  evil,  elevated  or 
degraded,  and  this  soul  magnetism  animates  it  for  a 
longer  or  shorter  period,  and  forms  a  link  between  it  and 
the  soul  which  has  animated  it.  In  the  case  of  a  soul 
whose  desires  are  all  for  higher  things,  the  link  is  soon 
severed  and  the  astral  envelope  soon  decays,  while  with  a 
soul  of  evil  desires  the  tie  may  last  for  centuries  and  chain 
the  soul  to  earth,  making  it  in  fact  earth-bound.  In  some 
cases  the  astral  of  a  soul  of  very  evil  life  will  have  absorbed 
the  lower  or  higher  spheres.  Astral  matter  is  practically 
so  much  of  the  soul's  vitality  that  after  the  soul  itself  has 
sunk  into  the  lowest  sphere  of  all,  the  empty  shell  will  still 
float  about  the  earth  like  a  fading  image  of  its  departed 
owner.  Such  are  sometimes  seen  by  clairvoyants  hanging 
about  the  places  where  they  once  lived,  and  are  truly 
'spooks.'  They  have  no  intelligence  of  their  own,  since 
the  soul  has  fled,  and  they  can  neither  influence  mediums 
nor  move  tables,  nor  do  any  other  thing  except  as  mechan- 
ical agents  of  some  higher  intelligence,  whether  that 
intelligence  be  good  or  evil. 

"The  astral  before  us  now  has  no  soul  magnetism  in 
it;  it  never  possessed  any,  therefore  it  will  soon  decay  and 
its  atoms  be  absorbed  by  others.     But  see  to  what  use  it 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     109 

can  be  turned  when  acted  upon  by  my  will  power  and 
animated  for  the  time  being  by  my  individuality." 

I  looked  as  he  spoke  and  saw  the  astral  doll  become 
suddenly  animated  and  intelligent,  and  then  glide  to  one 
of  the  Brotherhood  whom  Hassein  had  selected  and  touch 
him  upon  the  shoulder,  seeming  to  say,  "Friend,  Hassein 
Bey  salutes  you  ."  Then,  bowing  to  the  amused  and 
wondering  brother,  it  glided  back  to  us  as  though  Hassein 
had  held  it  by  a  string  like  a  performing  monkey. 

"Now  you  see,"  he  said,  "how  if  I  chose  I  might  use 
this  astral  as  a  messenger  to  execute  some  work  I  wished 
done  at  a  distance  from  myself,  and  you  will  understand 
one  of  the  means  made  use  of  by  the  old  magicians  to 
carry  out  some  work  at  a  great  distance  from  themselves 
and  without  their  appearing  to  take  any  share  in  it.  These 
astrals,  however,  are  only  capable  of  being  made  use  of 
upon  the  astral  plane.  They  could  not  move  any  material 
object,  although  they  would  be  visible  to  material  sight 
at  the  will  of  the  mortal  using  them.  There  are  other 
astrals  more  material  in  substance  who  could  be  used  to 
penetrate  into  the  earth  itself  and  to  bring  forth  its  hidden 
treasures,  the  precious  metals  and  the  gems  deeply  buried 
from  the  eyes  of  men.  It  would  not,  however,  be  lawful 
or  right  for  me  to  explain  to  you  the  power  by  which  this 
could  be  done,  and  those  magicians  who  have  discovered 
and  made  use  of  such  powers  have  sooner  or  later  fallen 
victims  to  those  powers  they  could  summon  to  their  aid 
but  rarely  continue  to  control." 

"Then  were  this  astral  to  become  animated  by  an  evil 
intelligence  it  would  be  an  actual  danger  to  man?"  I  said. 

"Yes,  without  doubt  it  might;  and  you  will  also  ob- 
serve that  although  I  should  not  care  to  descend  to  clothe 
myself  in  this  astral  form,  yet  a  spirit  more  ignorant  than 
myself  could  easily  do  so  in  order  to  make  himself  felt  and 
seen  upon  the  earth  in  a  more  palpable  form  than  possible 
to  any  spirit  who  has  left  the  earth  plane;  but  in  doing  so 
he  would  run  a  danger  of  creating  a  link  between  himself 
and  the  astral  envelope  not  easily  broken,  and  which 
might  thus  tie  him  to  the  astral  planet  for  a  considerable 


110    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

time.  You  will,  therefore,  see  how  the  idea  has  arisen 
thai  men  on  earth,  in  seeking  to  see  their  departed 
friends,  draw  the  spirits  back  into  earthly  conditions  and 
do  them  harm.  Many  an  ignorant  spirit  who  is  good  and 
pure  himself,  has  committed  the  mistake  of  reclothing 
himself  in  one  of  these  fresh  astral  shells  when  he  would 
have  turned  away  from  those  which  he  knew  to  have  been 
left  by  another  spirit,  and  has  found  to  his  cost  that  he 
has  thereby  made  of  himself  a  prisoner  upon  the  earth 
plane,  till  a  higher  intelligence  comes  to  his  aid  and 
releases  him. 

"In  a  like  manner  spirits  of  a  low  type  can  clothe 
themselves  in  these  empty  astral  garments,  but  in  their 
case  the  very  grossness  of  the  spirit  (or  soul)  prevents 
them  from  retaining  possession  long,  the  dense  magnetism 
of  the  low  spirit's  own  body  acting  as  a  strong  noxious 
vapor  or  gas  would  do  upon  a  covering  made,  say,  of  a 
spider's  web  of  fine  gossamer,  and  rending  it  into  a  thou- 
sand pieces.  To  a  spirit  above  the  astral  plane  an  astral 
envelope  appears  almost  as  solid  as  iron,  but  to  one  below 
it  these  fragile  shells  are  like  a  cloud  or  vapor.  The  lower 
the  soul  the  stronger  is  its  envelope  and  the  more  firmly 
does  it  hold  the  soul,  limiting  its  powers  and  preventing 
it  from  rising  into  a  more  advanced  sphere." 

"You  mean,  then,  that  spirits  sometimes  use  these 
astral  shells  as  they  do  earthly  mediums,  and  either  con- 
trol them  independently  or  actually  enter  into  the  form?'' 

"Yes,  certainly.  A  spirit  above  the  earth  plane, 
anxious  to  show  himself  to  a  clairvoyant  of  the  lowest  or 
first  degree  of  power,  will  sometimes  enter  one  of  these 
shells  which  he  at  once  stamps  with  his  identity,  and  in 
that  way  the  clairvoyant  will  truly  see  and  describe  him. 
The  danger  lies  in  the  fact  that  when  the  good  spirit  of 
limited  knowledge  seeks  to  leave  again  the  astral  shell,  he 
finds  he  cannot  do  so;  he  has  animated  it  and  its  strong 
life  holds  him  prisoner,  and  it  is  often  difficult  to  release 
him.  In  a  similar  manner  the  too  complete,  too  long  con- 
tinued control  of  an  earthly  medium  by  a  spirit,  has  been 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     Ill 

found  to  create  a  link  between  them  which  becomes  at 
last  a  chain.  To  a  spirit  of  the  lowest  spheres  an  astral 
envelope  is  but  a  convenient,  all  too  evanescent  cloak  with 
which  to  hide  his  own  degraded  spirit  body,  and  thus 
impose  upon  clairvoyants  unable  to  see  the  vile  spirit 
underneath:  but  to  a  good  and  pure  spirit  the  astral  en- 
velope is  as  a  suit  of  iron  capable  of  imprisoning  him." 

"Then  in  the  case  of  what  are  called  personations  by 
one  spirit  of  another  at  seances  upon  earth,  are  these 
astrals  made  use  of?". 

'•Very  often  they  are,  where  the  mischief-making 
spirit  is  of  too  low  a  type  himself  to  come  into  direct  con- 
tact with  the  medium.  You  must  know  by  this  time  how 
wonderfully  the  thoughts  of  mortal  men  and  women  are 
mirrored  upon  the  atmosphere  of  the  astral  plane,  and  as 
pictures  they  can  be  read  and  answered  by  spirits  possess- 
ing the  knowledge  of  how  to  read  them.  All  spirits  have 
not  the  power,  just  as  all  men  and  women  on  earth  are  not 
able  to  read  a  newspaper  or  a  letter.  It  requires  intellect 
and  education  with  us  as  with  those  on  earth.  The 
spirits,  then,  of  which  men  should  most  beware  are  not  so 
much  the  poor  ignorant  half  developed  spirits  of  the  earth 
plane  and  lower  spheres,  whose  degraded  lives  have  made 
them  what  they  are  and  who  are  often  glad  of  a  helping 
hand  to  raise  them,  but  it  is  of  the  intellectually  evil, 
those  who  have  great  powers  alike  of  mind  and  body  and 
who  have  only  used  them  for  wrong  purposes.  These  are 
the  real  dangers  to  guard  against,  and  it  is  only  by  the 
increase  of  knowledge  amongst  the  mediums  incarnated 
in  the  earthly  body  that  it  will  be  successfully  done,  for 
then  mortals  and  spirit  workers  will,  labor  in  unison,  and 
mutually  protect  the  spiritual  movement  from  fraud  and 
from  the  mistakes  of  the  well  meaning  but  half-ignorant 
spirits  and  mortals  who  are  doing  good  work  in  directing 
the  attention  of  mankind  to  the  matter,  but  who  often  do 
harm  both  to  themselves  and  others.  They  are  like 
ignorant  chemists  and  liable  to  bring  destruction  and 
harm  upon  others  as  well  as  on  themselves  in  their  experi- 
ments in  search  of  knowledge." 


112     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

"You  do  not  think,  then,  that  the  purity  of  their 
motives  will  suffice  to  protect  them?" 

"Would  purity  of  motive  save  a  child  from  being 
burnt  if  it  thrust  its  hands  into  a  blazing  furnace?  No! 
then  the  only  way  is  to  keep  the  child  as  far  from  the  fire 
as  possible.  This  good  and  wise  spirit  guardians  do  in  a 
great  measure,  but  if  the  children  are  continually  hover- 
ing near  the  danger,  and  try  at  all  sorts  of  odd  times  and 
fashions  to  get  just  another  peep  at  the  dangerous  thing, 
it  is  impossible  but  that  some  of  them  will  get  scorched." 

"Then  you  would  not  advise  the  indiscriminate  cul- 
tivation of  mediumistic  powers  by  all  mortals?" 

"Certainly  not.  I  would  have  all  men  use  the  powers 
of  those  who  have  been  carefully  developed  under  wise 
guardians,  and  I  would  have  all  assisted  to  cultivate  them 
who  are  truly  anxious  to  develop  their  powers  as  a  means 
of  doing  good  to  others.  But  when  you  consider  how 
manifold  and  how  selfish  may  be  the  motives  of  those 
mediumistically  endowed,  you  will  see  how  exceedingly 
difficult  it  would  be  to  protect  them.  Perhaps  my  ideas 
are  colored  by  the  circumstances  of  race  and  my  earthly 
education,  but  I  confess  I  should  wish  to  limit  the  practice 
of  mediumship  to  those  who  have  proved  their  readiness 
to  give  up  more  material  advantages  for  its  sake.  I 
would,  in  fact,  rather  see  them  set  apart  as  a  body  who 
have  no  share  in  the  ambitions  of  mankind.  But  enough 
of  our  discussion.  I  am  now  about  to  let  this  astral  shell 
go  and  draw  your  attention  to  another  type  of  the  same 
class." 

As  he  spoke  he  made  a  swift  upward  motion  with  his 
hands  over  it  and  uttered  some  words  in  an  unknown 
language,  whereupon  the  astral — which  had  hitherto 
floated  on  beside  us — stopped  and  seemed  to  waver  about 
for  a  few  seconds  until  an  advancing  current  of  magnetism 
caught  it,  and  it  was  swept  away  from  us  like  a  piece  of 
driftwood  upon  the  waves.  As  I  turned  from  watching  it 
I  saw  a  small  cluster  of  dark,  weird,  horrible  looking 
forms  approaching  us.  These  were  astral  shells  which 
had  never  known  soul  life,  but,  unlike  the  pleasant  waxy 


A  WAXDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     113 

looking  astral  from  which  we  had  just  parted,  these  were 
in  all  respects  repulsive. 

"These,"  said  Hassein,  "are  the  emanations  thrown 
off  by  men  and  women  of  a  low  intellectual  type  and  evil, 
sensual  lives.  They  are  from  the  slums  of  the  earth  life — 
not  alone  the  social  slums,  but  also  from  a  higher  grade  of 
society  where  there  are  moral  slums  quite  as  degraded. 
Such  beings  as  these,  when  animated  by  an  evil  intelli- 
gence can  be  used  for  the  very  worst  purposes.  Being  so 
very  material,  they  can  even  be  used  to  affect  material 
matter  upon  earth,  and  have  been  so  used  in  the  practice 
of  what  is  known  as  Black  Magic  and  witchcraft,  and  they 
are  also  (but  very  rarely)  used  by  higher  intelligences  to 
effect  physical  phenomena  at  seances.  Where  wise  and 
good  intelligences  control  them  no  harm  will  be  done,  but 
under  the  direction  of  the  evil  or  ignorant  they  become  a 
danger  beyond  my  power  fully  to  express.  To  these 
astrals,  and  to  those  of  a  similar  class  in  which  the  soul 
germ  yet  lingers  as  in  a  prison,  are  due  those  rough  and 
dangerous  manifestations  sometimes  seen  in  spirit  circles 
(seances),  where  men  of  bad  lives,  and  others  too  ignorant 
to  protect  themselves,  are  assembled  from  motives  of 
curiosity  or  mere  amusement." 

"And  amongst  what  class  of  spirits  do  you  place  those 
ghouls  and  vampires,  so  firmly  believed  in,  in  many  parts 
of  the  world?" 

"Vampire  spirits  are  those  who  have  themselves 
known  earth  life,  but  have  so  misused  it  that  their  souls 
are  still  imprisoned  in  the  astral  envelope.  Their  object 
in  sucking  away  the  animal  life  principle  of  men  and 
women  is  in  order  to  retain  thereby  their  hold  upon  the 
life  of  the  earth  plane,  and  so  save  themselves  from  sink- 
ing to  far  lower  spheres.  They  are  anxious  to  cling  to 
their  astral  envelope  and  to  prolong  its  life,  just  as  men 
of  very  evil  lives  upon  earth  cling  to  the  life  of  the  earthly 
body  because  they  fear  that  when  they  are  separated  from 
it  they  will  sink  into  some  unknown  depths  of  darkness 
and  horror.     The  constant  renewal  of  the  animal  and 


114    A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

astral  life  often  enables  these  vampire  spirits  to  hang 
about  the  earth  Eoi  cenitfries." 

"Is  it  possible  Eor  a  vampire  spirit  to  possess  itself  of 
a  sufficient  amount  of  materiality  to  appear  in  mortal 
form  and  mingle  with  men  as  described  in  many  of  the 
tales  told  of  such  creatures?" 

"If  you  mean  to  ask  if  the  vampire  can  make  to 
itself  a  material  body,  I  say  no,  but  it  can  and  does  some- 
times take  complete  possession  of  one  belonging  to  a 
mortal,  just  as  other  spirits  do,  and  can  cause  its  acquired 
body  to  act  in  accordance  with  its  will.  Thus  it  is  quite 
possible  for  a  vampire  spirit  clothed  in  the  mortal  body 
of  another  to  so  change  its  expression  as  to  make  it  bear 
some  resemblance  to  the  vampire's  own  former  earthly 
appearance,  and  through  the  power  obtained  by  the  pos- 
session of  a  material  body  he  (or  she,  for  the  vampires  are 
of  both  sexes)  might  really  lead  the  curious  double  life 
ascribed  to  them  in  those  weird  tales  current  and  believed 
in  in  many  countries.  By  far  the  larger  number  of  vam- 
pire spirits,  however,  are  not  in  possession  of  an  earthly 
body,  and  they  hover  about  the  earth  in  their  own  astral 
envelope,  sucking  away  the  earthly  life  of  mediumistic 
persons  whose  peculiar  organization  makes  them  liable  to 
become  the  prey  of  such  influences,  while  they  are  them- 
selves quite  ignorant  that  such  beings  as  these  astrals 
exist.  The  poor  mortals  suffer  from  a  constant  sense  of 
exhaustion  and  languor  without"  suspecting  to  what  it  is 
to  be  attributed." 

"But  cannot  spirit  guardians  protect  mortals  from 
these  beings?" 

"Not  always.  In  a  great  measure  they  do  protect 
them,  but  only  as  one  may  protect  a  person  from  infec- 
tious fevers,  by  showing  them  the  danger  and  warning 
them  to  avoid  spots  where,  owing  to  the  associations  with 
their  earthly  lives,  the  vampire  spirits  are  specially 
attracted.  This  the  guardian  spirit  docs  by  instilling  into 
the  mind  of  the  mortal  an  instinctive  dread  of  the  places 
where  crimes  have  been  committed,  or  persons  of  evil 
lives  have  lived.     But  since  man  is  and  must  be  in  all 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     115 

respects  a  free  agent,  it  is  not  possible  to  do  more.  He 
cannot  be  directed  in  all  things  like  a  puppet,  and  must 
in  a  great  measure  gather  his  own  experience  for  himself, 
however  bitter  may  prove  its  fruits.  Knowledge,  guidance 
and  help  will  always  be  given,  but  only  in  such  a  manner 
as  will  not  interfere  with  man's  free  will,  and  only  such 
knowledge  as  he  himself  desires;  nothing  will  ever  be 
forced  upon  him  by  the  spirit  world." 


116    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

I  would  have  liked  to  ask  Hassein  a  great  many  more 
questions  about  the  astral  plane  and  its  many  curious 
forms  of  life,  but  we  were  now  fast  leaving  it  behind,  and 
passing  downwards  through  those  lower  spheres  which  I 
had  partly  explored  before.  We  were  traveling  through 
space  at  a  wonderful  velocity,  not  quite  with  the  rapidity 
of  thought  but  at  a  speed  difficult  for  the  mind  of  mortal 
to  conceive.  Onward  and  still  onward  we  swept,  sinking 
ever  lower  and  lower  away  from  the  bright 'spheres,  and 
as  we  sank  a  certain  sense  of  awe  and  expectancy  crept 
over  our  souls  and  hushed  our  talk.  We  seemed  to  feel  in 
advance  the  horrors  of  that  awful  land  and  the  sorrows 
of  its  inhabitants. 

And  now  I  beheld  afar  off  great  masses  of  inky  black 
smoke  which  seemed  to  hang  like  a  pall  of  gloom  over  the 
land  to  which  we  were  approaching.  As  we  still  floated 
on  and  down,  these  great  black  clouds  became  tinged  with 
lurid  sulphurous-looking  flames  as  from  myriads  of 
gigantic  volcanoes.  The  air  was  so  oppressive  we  could 
scarcely  breathe,  while  a  sense  of  exhaustion,  such  as  I 
had  never  experienced  before,  seemed  to  paralyze  my 
every  limb.  At  last  our  leader  gave  the  order  for  us  to 
halt,  and  we  descended  on  the  top  of  a  great  black  moun- 
tain which  seemed  to  jut  out  into  a  lake  of  ink,  and  from 
which  we  saw  on  the  horizon  that  awful  lurid  country. 

Here  we  were  to  rest  for  a  time,  and  here,  too,  we 
were  to  part  from  our  friends  who  had  so  far  escorted  us 
upon  our  journey.  After  a  simple  repast  consisting  of 
various  sustaining  spiritual  fruits  and  food  which  we  had 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     117 

brought  with  us,  our  leader  ou  behalf  of  the  whole  com- 
pany offered  up  a  short  prayer  for  protection  and  strength, 
and  then  we  all  lay  down  upon  that  bleak  mountain  top 
to  rest. 

I  was  aroused  from  a  delicious  state  of  unconscious- 
ness to  find  that  the  others  were  all  awake  also,  and  were 
being  separated  into  parties  of  two  or  three,  in  order  that 
we  might  with  less  suspicion  enter  the  enemy's  country. 
We  were  to  be  scattered  as  missionary  workers  over  the 
dark  countr}-,  to  save  and  help  such  as  we  found  willing  to 
accept  our  aid.  To  my  surprise  I  found  that  during  my 
rest  a  change  had  passed  over  me,  which  in  a  great 
measure  acclimatized  me  to  the  atmosphere  and  surround- 
ings in  which  I  now  found  myself.  I  seemed  to  have  put 
on,  or,  as  it  were,  clothed  myself  in  a  certain  amount  of 
the  specially  coarse  materiality  of  that  sphere.  My  body 
was  more  dense,  and  when  I  attempted  to  rise  and  float 
as  I  had  done  before,  I  found  it  was  only  with  great 
difficulty  I  could  do  so.  The  atmosphere  no  longer  gave 
me  so  keen  a  sense  of  oppression,  and  the  sense  of  its 
weighing  down  my  limbs,  which  had  so  troubled  me  be- 
fore, was  gone.  A  certain  portion  of  sustaining  essences, 
sufficient  to  last  during  our  sojourn  in  this  lowest  sphere, 
was  given  to  each  of  us,  and  then  a  few  final  directions 
and  warnings  were  addressed  to  us  by  our  leader. 

Hassein  now  came  to  bid  me  good-bye  and  to  give 
me  the  last  words  of  advice  Ahrinziman  had  sent  me.  "I 
am  to  come  from  time  to  time,"  he  said,  "to  give  you  news 
of  your  beloved,  and  of  your  other  friends,  and  you  can 
send  a  message  to  them  at  such  times,  by  me.  Always 
remember  that  you  will  be  surrounded  by  every  species  of 
deceit  and  falsehood,  and  believe  no  one  who  comes  to  you 
as  a  messenger  from  us  unless  he  can  give  you  the  counter- 
sign of  your  order.  Your  thoughts  they  may  guess,  but 
they  will  not  be  able  to  read  them  clearly,  since  you  are 
above  them  in  spiritual  development,  and  although  your 
having  to  put  on  to  a  certain  degree  their  own  condition 
on  entering  their  sphere  will  enable  them  to  sense  a  por- 


118     A  WANDKI.'KIJ  1  \  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

turn  of  "your  thoughts,  it  will  be  but  imperfectly,  and  <>nh 
in  those  matters  where  your  owd  lower  passions  .-till  form 
a  certain  link  between  you  and  them:  With  the  highest 
powers  of  their  intellect  to  help  them  they  will  plot  and 
Bcheme  with  great  cleverness  to  tempt  and  entrap  yon.  In 
these  regions  there  are  men  who  wen1  amongst  the  greatest 
intellectual  powers  of  their  age,  hut  whose  awful  careers 
of  wickedness  have  simk  them  to  these  spheres  where  they 
reign  over  all  around  them — even  worse  and  more  des- 
potic tyrants  now  than  they  were  upon  earth"  Beware, 
then,  and  heed  all  the  warnings  we  have  given  you. 
From  time  to  time  you  will  receive  help  and  encourage- 
ment from  your  sincere  friends  until  your  mission  shall 
have  heen  accomplished  and  yon  return,  let  us  hope,  as  a 
victor  in  a  good  cause.  Adieu,  dear  friend,  and  may  the 
hlessings  of  the  Great  Father  of  all  he  with  you."' 

I  parted  from  Hassein  with  much  regret  and  set  forth 
with  our  hand  upon  our  journey.  The  last  things  we  saw 
as  we  descended  were  the  wdiite  robed  figures  of  our 
friends  outlined  against  the  dark  sky,  waving  to  us  their 
farewell. 


PART    III. 


Zhe  Ikingbom  of  Ibell. 


A  WAXDEEEH  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     121 


PAET    III. 

Gbe  IRingfcom  of  1bell. 


CHAPTEE  XIX. 

The  companion  who  was  assigned  to  me  in  this  ex- 
pedition was  a  spirit  who  had  been  in  this  sphefe  before, 
and  who  was,  therefore,  well  fitted  to  act  as  my  guide  on 
entering  this  Land  of  Horrors.  After  a  short  time  we 
were  to  separate,  he  told  me,  and  each  to  follow  his  own 
path — but  at  any  time  either  of  us  could,  if  needful, 
summon  the  other  to  his  aid  in  case  of  extremity. 

As  we  drew  near  the  great  bank  of  smoke  and  flame 
I  remarked  to  my  companion  upon  the  strangely  material 
appearance  they  presented.  I  was  accustomed  in  the  spirit 
world  to  the  realism  and  solidity  of  all  our  surroundings 
which  mortals  are  apt  to  imagine  must  be  of  some  ethereal 
and  intangible  nature,  since  they  are  not  visible  to  ordi- 
nary eyesight, — still  these  thick  clouds  of  smoke,  these 
leaping  tongues  of  flame,  were  contrary  to  what  I  had 
pictured  Hell  as  being  like.  I  had  seen  dark  and  dreary 
countries  and  unhappy  spirits  in  my  wanderings,  but  I 
had  seen  no  flames,  no  fire  of  any  sort,  and  I  had  totally 
disbelieved  in  material  flames  in  a  palpable  form,  and  had 
deemed  the  fires  of  Hell  to  be  merely  a  figure  of  speech  to 
express  a  mental  state.  Many  have  taught  that  it  is  so, 
and  that  the  torments  of  Hell  are  mental  and  subjective, 
not  objective  at  all.  I  said  something  of  this  to  my 
companion,  and  he  replied: 


122    A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

"Both  ideas  are  in  a  sense  right.  These  lames  and 
tliis  smoke  are  created  by  the  spiritual  emanations  of  the 

unhappy  beings  who  dwell  within  that  fiery  wall,  and 
material  as  they  seem  to  yum-  eyes,  opened  to  the  sight  of 
spiritual  things,  they  would  be  invisible  to  a  mortal's 
sight,  could  one  still  in  the  body  of  flesh  by  any  miracle 
visit  this  spot.  They  have,  in  fact,  no  earthly  material  in 
them,  yet,  they  are  none  the  less  material  in  the  sense  that 
all  things  earthly  or  spiritual  are  clothed  in  matter  of 
some  kind.  The  number  and  variety  of  degrees  of  solidity 
in  matter  are  infinite,  as  without  a  certain  covering  of 
etherealized  matter  even  spiritual  buildings  and  spiritual 
bodies  would  he  invisible  to  you.  and  these  flames  being 
the  coarse  emanations  of  these  degraded  spirits,  possess. 
for  your  eyes  an  appearance  even  more  dense  and  solid 
than  for  the  inhabitants  themselves." 

My  companion's  spirit  name  was  "Faithful  Friend.'' 
•n  name  given  him  in  memory  of  his  devotion  to  a  friend 
who  abused  his  friendship  and  finally  betrayed  him.  and 
whom  he  had  even  then  forgiven  and  helped  in  the  hour 
when  shame  and  humiliation  overtook  the  betrayer,  and 
when  reproach  and  contempt  or  even  revenge  might  have 
seemed  amply  justifiable  to  many  minds.  This  truly 
noble  spirit  had  been  a  man  of  by  no  means  perfectly 
moral  character  in  his  earthly  life,  and  had  therefore 
passed  at  death  into  the  lower  spheres  near  the  earth 
plane,  but  he  had  risen  rapidly,  and  at  the  time  I  met  him 
he  was  one  of  the  Brotherhood  in  the  second  sphere,  to 
which  I  had  so  recently  been  admitted,  and  had  been  once 
before  through  the  Kingdoms  of  Hell. 

We  now  drew  near  what  appeared  like  the  crater  of 
a  vast  volcano — ten  thousand  Vesuviuses  in  one!  Above 
us  the  sky  was  black  as  night,  and  but  for  the  lurid  glare 
of  the  flames  we  should  have  been  in  total  darkness.  Now 
that  we  have  reached  the  mass  of  fire  I  saw  that  it  was  like 
a  fiery  wall  surrounding  the  country,  through  which  all 
who  sought  to  enter  or  leave  it  must  pass. 

"See  now,  Franchezzo,"  said  Faithful  Friend,  "we 
are  about  to  pass  through  this  wall  of  fire,  but  do  not  let 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     123 

that  alarm  you,  for  so  long  as  your  courage  and  your  will 
do  not  fail,  and  you  exert  all  your  will-power  to  repel 
these  fiery  particles,  they  cannot  come  in  actual  contact 
with  your  body.  Like  the  waters  of  the  Red  Sea  they  will 
fall  apart  on  either  side  and  we  shall  pass  through 
unscathed. 

"Were  any  one  of  weak  will  and  timid  soul  to  attempt 
tins  they  would  fail,  and  he  driven  back  by  the  force  of 
these  flames  which  are  propelled  outwards  by  a  current  of 
strong  will-force  set  in  motion  by  the  fierce  and  powerful 
beings  who  reign  here,  and  who  thus,  as  they  imagine, 
protect  themselves  from  intrusions  from  the  higher 
spheres.  To  us,  however,  with  our  more  spiritualized 
bodies,  these  flames  and  the  walls  and  rocks  you  will  find 
in  this  land,  are  no  more  impenetrable  than  is  the  solid 
material  of  earthly  doors  and  walls,  and  as  we  can  pass  at 
will  through  them,  so  can  we  pass  through  these,  which 
are  none  the  less  sufficiently  solid  to  imprison  the  spirits 
who  dwell  in  this  country.  The  more  ethereal  a  spirit  is 
the  less  can  it  be  bound  by  matter,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  less  direct  power  can  it  have  in  the  moving  of  matter, 
without  the  aid  of  the  physical  material  supplied  by  the 
aura  of  certain  mediums.  Here,  as  on  earth,  we  would, 
in  order  to  move  material  substances,  require  to  use  the 
aura  of  some  of  the  mediumistic  spirits  of  this  sphere. 
At  the  same  time  we  shall  find  that  our  higher  spiritual 
powers  have  become  muffled,  so  to  say;  because  in  order  to 
enter  this  sphere  and  make  ourselves  visible  to  its  in- 
habitants, we  have  had  to  clothe  ourselves  in  its  con- 
ditions, and  thus  we  are  more  liable  to  be  affected  by  its 
temptations.  Our  lower  natures  will  be  appealed  to  in 
every  form,  and  we  shall  have  to  direct  our  efforts  to  pre- 
vent them  from  again  dominating  us." 

My  friend  now  took  my  hand  firmly  in  his  and  we 
"willed"  ourselves  to  pass  through  the  wall  of  fire.  I  con- 
fess that  a  momentary  sense  of  fear  passed  over  me  as  we 
began  to  enter  it.  but  I  felt  we  were  "in  for  it,"  so  exert- 
ing all  my  powers  and  concentrating  my  thoughts  I  soon  \ 
found  that  we  were  floating  through — the  flames  forming 


124    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

a  fiery  arch  below  and  above  us  through  which  as  through 
a  tunnel  we  passed.  Thinking  of  it  now  I  should  say  it 
must  have  been  about  a  quarter  to  half  a  mile  thick, 
judging  as  one  would  by  earthly  measurements,  but  at  the 
time  1  did  not  take  sufficient  note  to  be  very  exact,  all  my 
energies  being  directed  to  the  repelling  of  the  fiery  par- 
ticles from  myself. 

As  we  emerged  we  found  ourselves  in  a  land  of  night. 
It  might  have  seemed  like  the  bottomless  pit  of  desolation 
had  we  not  stood  upon  solid  enough  ground,  while  above 
us  was  this  canopy  of  black  smoke.  How  far  this  country 
extended  it  was  impossible  to  form  any  idea,  since  the 
heavy  atmosphere  like  a  black  fog  shut  in  our  vision  on 
every  side.  I  was  told  that  it  extended  through  the  whole 
of  this  vast  and  dreadful  sphere.  In  some  parts  there 
were  great  tumbled  jagged  mountains  'of  black  rocks,  in 
jothers  long  and  dreary  wastes  of  desert  plains,  while  yet 
others  were  mighty  swamps  of  black  oozing  mud,  full  of 
the  most  noisome  crawling  creatures,  slimy  monsters,  and 
huge  bats.  Again  there  were  dense  black  forests  of 
gigantic,  repulsive-looking  trees,  almost  human  in  their 
power  and  tenacity,  encircling  and  imprisoning  those  who 
ventured  amongst  them.  Ere  I  left  this  awful  land  I  had 
seen  these  and  other  dreadful  regions,  but  truly  neither  I 
nor  anyone  else  could  ever  really  describe  them  in  all  their 
loathsomeness  and  foulness. 

As  we  stood  looking  at  this  country  my  sight,  grad- 
ually becoming  used  to  the  darkness,  enabled  me  to  per- 
ceive the  surrounding  objects  dimly,  and  I  saw  that  before 
us  there  was  a  highway  marked  by  the  passage  of  many 
spirit  feet  across  the  black  plain  on  which  we  stood.  A 
plain  covered  with  dust  and  ashes,  as  though  all  the 
blighted  hopes,  the  dead  ashes  of  misused  earthly  lives 
had  been  scattered  there. 

"We  followed  this  highway,  and  in  a  short  time 
arrived  at  a  great  archway  of  black  stone  hewn  into  large 
blocks  and  rudely  piled  one  upon  the  other.  An  immense 
curtain  of  what  I  thought  at  first  was  black  gauze  hung 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     125 

before  the  gateway.  On  going  nearer  I  saw  to  my  horror 
that  it  was  made  from  spirits'  hair,  with  the  eyes  strung 
like  beads  upon  it,  and,  most  horrible  of  all,  the  eyes  were 
alive  and  seemed  to  look  at  ns  imploringly  and  follow  our 
every  movement  as  though  striving  to  read  our  intentions 
in  coming  there. 

'•Are  these  eyes  endowed  with  life?"  I  asked. 

"With  soul  life?  no,  but  with  the  astral  life,  yes — and 
they  will  continue  so  to  live  while  the  souls  to  which  they 
belonged  continue  in  the  spirit  bodies  or  envelopes  from 
which  these  eyes  have  been  torn.  This  is  one  of  the  gates 
of  Hell,  and  the  custodian  has  a  fancy  to  decorate  it  in 
this  way  with  the  eyes  of  his  victims.  In  this  place  there 
are  none  who  have  not  themselves  been  guilty  during 
their  earthly  lives  of  the  most  awful  cruelties,  the  most 
absolute  defiance  of  the  laws  of  mercy  and  justice.  In 
coming  here  they  are  only  intent  upon  finding  fresh 
means  to  gratify  their  lust  for  cruelty,  and  thus  they  ex- 
pose themselves  to  becoming  in  their  turn  the  victims  of 
beings  no  more  ferocious  than  themselves,  but  stronger  in 
will-power  and  cleverer  in  intellect.  This  is  the  City  of 
Cruelty,  and  those  who  reign  here  do  so  by  virtue  of  their 
very  excess  of  that  vice.  The  wretched  spirits  to  whom 
these  eyes  belong,  with  their  degraded,  stunted  soul  germs 
still  imprisoned  in  their  mutilated  bodies,  are  at  this 
moment  wandering  through  the  desolation  of  this  land, 
or  laboring  as  helpless  slaves  for  their  spirit  tyrants,  de- 
prived even  of  the  limited  power  of  sight  possessed  by 
others  in  this  dreary  land;  while  between  the  eyes  and 
their  owners  there  vet  exists  a  connecting  link  of  mag- 
netism  which  will  keep  them  living  and  animated  by  a 
reflected  life  till  the  soul  germ  shall  cast  off  its  present 
envelope  and  rise  to  a  higher  state  of  life." 

While  we  were  studying  this  horrible  gateway  the 
curtain  of  living  eyes  was  drawn  aside,  and  two  strange 
dark  beings,  half  human  and  half  animal,  came  out,  and 
we  took  the  chance  to  pass  in  unnoticed  by  the  guardian 
of  the  gate,  a  gigantic  and  horrible  creature,  misshapen 
and  distorted  in  every  limb  so  that  the  worst  ogre  of  fable 


126    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

could  scarcely  convey  to  mortal  mind  a  picture  of  him. 
He  sprang  out  with  a  frightful  laugh  and  horrible  lan- 
guage upon  the  two  poor  trembling  spirits  who  fled  from 
him  in  most  abject  terror,  but  neither  he  nor  they  seemed 
able  to  perceive  us. 

"Are  these  beings  soulless?*'  I  asked,  pointing  to  the 
poor  frightened  spirits.     "Were  they  ever  on  earth?" 

"Yes,  most  certainly,  but  of  a  very  low  type  of  sav- 
ages, scarcely  above  the  wild  beasts,  and  quite  as  cruel, 
hence  the  reason  they  are  here.  In  all  probability  their 
means  of  progression  will  come  from  being  reincarnated 
in  a  slightly  higher  form  of  earth  life,  and  their  experience 
here,  which  will  be  short,  will  give  them  the  sense  that 
there  is  retributive  justice  somewhere,  although  they  will 
be  apt  to  form  their  ideas  of  a  God  from  their  dim 
recollections  of  the  powerful  beings  who  reign  in  this 
place." 

"Do  you,  then,  hold  the  doctrine  of  reincarnation?" 

"Not  as  an  absolute  law  under  which  all  spirits  must 
pass,  but  I  do  believe  that  in  the  experiences  of  many 
spirits  reincarnation  is  a  law  of  their  progression.  Each 
spirit  or  soul  born  into  planetary  life  has  spiritual  guar- 
dians who  from  the  celestial  spheres  superintend  its 
welfare  and  educate  the  soul  by  such  means  as  seem  best 
to  them  in  their  wisdom.  These  spiritual  guardians,  or, 
as  some  term  them,  angels,  differ  in  their  methods  and 
their  schools  of  thought,  for  there  is  no  sameness  any- 
where, I  am  taught,  and  no  absolute  path  upon  which  all 
must  walk  alike.  Each  school  of  thought  which  has  its 
counterpart,  its  dim  imperfect  reflection  on  earth,  has  the 
perfected  system  of  the  school  and  its  highest  teachers  in 
the  celestial  spheres,  and  from  these  higher  spheres  their 
doctrines  are  handed  down  to  earth  through  spirits  in  the 
intermediate  spheres.  The  end  all  have  in  view  is  the 
same,  but  each  maps  out  a  different  path  by  which  the 
pilgrim  souls  shall  reach  it.  The  guardian  angels  watch 
over  the  soul  germ  during  all  of  what  may  be  termed  its 
childhood  and  youth,  which  lasts  from  the  moment  it  first 
sees  the  light  of    individual    consciousness  till  through 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     127 

repeated  experience?  and  developments  it  attains  to  such 
a  degree  of  intellectual  and  moral  consciousness  that  it 
stands  upon  the  same  level  as  its  spiritual  guardians,  and 
then  it  in  turn  becomes  the  spiritual  guardian  of  some 
new-born  soul.  I  have  also  been  taught  that  the  soul 
germ  in  its  first  stage  is  only  like  a  seed,  like,  in  fact,  any- 
other  seed  in  the  minuteness  of  its  size  and  powers.  It  is, 
in  fact,  a  spark  of  the  Divine  Essence  containing  in  itself 
all  that  will  constitute  the  perfected  human  soul.  Of  its 
very  essence  it  is  immortal  and  indestructible,  because  it  is 
seed  from  that  which  is  Immortal  and  Indestructible.  But 
as  a  seed  has  to  be  sown  into  the  darkness  and  degradation 
of  the  material  earth  in  order  that  it  may  germinate,  so 
has  the  soul  seed  tcf  be  sown  into  the  corruptions  of  mat- 
ter, first  in  its  lower  and  then  in  its  higher  forms.  Each 
animal  is  in  itself  the  type  of  a  soul-seed,  the  human  type 
being  the  highest  of  all,  and  each  seed  will  in  turn  develop 
to  the  highest  degree  possible  for  it  through  successive 
spheres  and  experiences.  Some  schools  of  thought  hold 
that  the  soul  will  progress  more  rapidly  if  it  is  again  and 
again  returned  to  material  life  to  be  born  anew,  in  a  fresh 
form  ach  tinu,  and  to  live  over  again  the  experiences  it 
has  rife— I,  or  to  expiate  in  the  mortal  form  the  wrongs 
done  in  a  former  incarnation.  The  spiritual  children  of 
this  school  of  thought  will  indeed  be  thus  returned  to 
earth  again,  and  for  them  each  new  lesson  will  have  to  be 
worked  out  in  an  earthly  life. 

"But  it  does  not  follow  that  this  experience  will  be 
the  lot  of  all  spirits.  There  are  other  schools  who  main- 
tain that  the  spirit  spheres  conteH  means  for  the  educa- 
tion of  the  soul  quite  as  useful  and  expeditious;  and  with 
the  spiritual  children  committed  to  their  charge  the 
totally  different  course  of  sending  them  to  gather  experi- 
ence in  the  lower  spheres  rather  than  to  earth,  will  be  pur- 
sued. They  will  be  made  to  live  over  in  memory  their 
past  earth  life  and  to  expiate  in  the  spirit  the  wrongs  done 
in  their  earthly  existences.  As  each  soul  differs  in  its 
character  or  individuality,  so  each  must  be  trained  by  a 
different  method,  else  would  all  resemble  each  other  so 


128    A  WAN  DEEEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

exactly  thai  a  monotonous  sameness  would  result  and 
there  would  be  none  of  that  variety  and  contrast  which 
giv§  a  charm  to  earthly  life,  and  I  believe  will  still  con- 
tinue to  do  so  in  the  celestial  spheres. 

"I  have  ever  been  taught,  therefore,  to  avoid  trying 
to  found  a  general  rule  applicable  to  all  spirits  upon  the 
experiences  of  any  one  community  of  spirits  with  which 
I  may  come  in  contact.  Even  in  the  visit  we  shall  pay 
to  this  sphere  we  shall  only  be  able  to  see  a  part,  a  frac- 
tional part,  of  this  immense  sphere  of  evil  spirits,  yet  we 
shall  traverse  an  extent  of  space  far  greater  than  if  you 
had  traveled  over  the  whole  of  the  little  planet  Earth  from 
which  we  both  have  come.  In  the  spirit  world  like  draws 
to  like  by  a  universal  law,  and  those  of  entirely  opposite 
natures  repel  each  other  so  entirely  that  they  can  never 
mingle  or  even  touch  the  circle  in  which  each  dwells. 
Thus  in  our  wanderings  we  shall  only  visit  those  with 
"whom  either  from  nationality  or  temperament  we  have 
some  germ  of  feeling,  however  slight,  in  common." 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     129 


CHAPTER  XX. 

We  were  now  traversing  a  wide  causeway  of  black 
marble,  on  either  side  of  which  were  deep,  dark  chasms 
of  which  it  was  impossible  to  see  the  bottom  from  the 
great  clouds  of  heavy  vapor  that  hung  over  them.  Pass- 
ing and  repassing  us  upon  this  highway  were  a  great  many 
dark  spirits,  some  bearing  great  heavy  loads  upon  their 
backs,  others  almost  crawling  along  on  all  fours  like 
1  leasts.  Great  gangs  of  slaves  passed  us,  wearing  heavy 
iron  collars  on  their  necks  and  linked  together  by  a  heavy 
chain.  They  were  coming  from  the  second  or  inner  gate 
of  what  was  evidently  a  large  fortified  city  whose  dark 
buildings  loomed  through  the  dense  masses  of  dark  fog 
in  front  of  us.  The  causeway,  the  style  of  buildings,  and 
the  appearance  of  many  of  the  spirits  made  me  feel  as 
though  we  were  entering  some  ancient  fortified  city  of  the 
old  Roman  Empire,  only  here  everything  gave  one  the 
sense  of  being  foul  and  horrible,  in  spite  of  the  fine  archi- 
tecture and  the  magnificent  buildings  whose  outlines  we 
could  dimly  trace.  The  second  gateway  was  finer  in 
appearance  than  the  first,  and  the  gates  being  open  we 
passed  in  with  the  stream  of  spirits  hurrying  through  it, 
and  as  before  we  seemed  to  pass  unseen. 

"You  will  perceive,'*  said  Faithful  Friend,  "that  here 
there  is  a  life  in  no  way  different  from  the  earthly  life  of 
such  a  city  at  the  time  when  the  one  of  which  this  is  the 
spiritual  reflection,  was  in  the  full  zenith  of  its  power,  and 
when  the  particles  of  which  this  is  formed  were  thrown  off 
from  its  material  life  and  drawn  down  by  the  force  of 
attraction  to  form  this  city  and  these  buildings,  fit  dwell- 


130   a  a\  axdi-im'.r  in  the  spirit  lands. 

ings  for  its  spiritual  inhabitants;  and  you  will  see  in  the 
more  modern  appearance  of  many  of  the  buildings  and 
inhabitants  how  it  has  been  added  to  from  time  to  time  by 
the  same  process  which  is  going  on  continuously.  You 
will  notice  that  most  of  the  spirits  here  fancy  themselves 
still  in  the  earthly  counterparj  and  wonder  why  all  looks 
so  dark  and  foul  and  dingy.  In  like  manner  this  same 
city  has  its  spiritual  prototype  in  the  higher  spheres  to 
which  all  that  was  fair  and  good  and  noble  in  its  life  has 
been  attracted,  and  where  those  spirits  who  were  good 
and  true  have  gone  to  dwell;  for  in  the  lives  of  cities  as  of 
men  the  spiritual  emanations  are  attracted  upwards  or 
downwards  according  as  there  is  good  or  evil  in  the  deeds 
done  in  them.  And  as  the  deeds  done  in  this  city  have  in 
evil  far  exceeded  those  which  were  good,  so  this  city  is  far 
larger,  far  more  thickly  peopled  in  this  sphere  than  in 
those  above.  In  the  ages  to  come  when  the  spirits  who 
are  here  now  shall  have  progressed,  that  heavenly  counter- 
part will  be  fully  finished  and  fully  peopled,  and  then  will 
this  place  we  gaze  at  now  have  crumbled  into  dust — faded 
from  this  sphere." 

We  were  now  in  a  narrow  street,  such  as  it  must  have 
been  in  the  earthly  city,  and  a  short  distance  farther 
brought  us  into  a  large  square  surrounded  with  magnifi- 
cent palaces,  while  before  us  towered  one  more  splendid 
in  design  than  all  the  others.  A  great  wide  flight  of 
marble  steps  led  up  to  its  massive  portico,  and  looming 
through  the  dark  cloudy  atmosphere  we  could  trace  its 
many  wings  and  buildings.  All  was  truly  on  a  magnifi- 
cent scale,  yet  all  to  my  eyes  appeared  dark,  stained  with 
great  splashes  of  blood,  and  covered  with  slimy  fungus 
growth  which  disfigured  the  magnificence  and  hung  in 
great  repulsive-looking  festoons,  like  twisted  snakes,  from 
all  the  pillars  and  cope-stones  of  the  buildings.  Black 
slimy  mud  oozed  up  through  the  crevices  of  the  marble 
pavement,  as  though  the  city  floated  upon  a  foul  swamp, 
and  noisome  vapors  curled  up  from  the  ground  and  floated 
above  and  around  us  in  fantastic  and  horrible  smoke 
wreaths  like  the  huge  phantoms  of  past  crimes.     Every- 


A  WAXDEKER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     131 

where  were  dark  spirits  crawling  across  the  great  square 
and  in  and  out  of  the  palace  doors,  driven  onward  by 
other  stronger  dark  spirits  with  lash  or  spear.  Such  cries 
of  execration  as  broke  forth  from  time  to  time,  such  fear- 
ful oaths,  such  curses  and  imprecations,  it  was  truly  the 
pandemonium  of  the  lost  souls  in  the  Infernal  regions! 
And  over  all  hung  those  black  night  clouds  of  sorrow  and 
suffering  and  wrong. 

Far  away  to  the  earth  my  thoughts  traveled,  back  to 
the  days  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  I  saw  reflected  as  in 
a  glass  this  city  in  all  the  splendor  of  her  power,  in  all  the 
iniquities  of  her  tyranny  and  her  crimes,  weaving  down 
below,  from  the  loom  of  fate,  this  other  place  of  retribu- 
tion for  all  those  men  and  women  who  disgraced  her  beau- 
ties by  their  sins:  1  saw  this  great  city  of  Hell  building 
atom  by  atom  till  it  should  become  a  great  prison  for  all 
the  evil  spirits  of  that  wicked  time. 

We  went  up  the  wide  flight  of  steps  through  the  lofty 
doorway  and  found  ourselves  in  the  outer  court  of  the 
Emperor's  Palace.  Xo  one  spoke  to  us  or  seemed  aware 
of  our  presence,  and  we  passed  on  through  several  smaller 
halls  till  we  reached  the  door  of  the  Presence  Chamber. 
Here  my  companion  stopped  and  said: 

"I  cannot  enter  with  you,  friend,  because  I  have 
already  visited  the  dark  spirit  who  reigns  here,  and  there- 
fore my  presence  would  at  once  excite  his  suspicions  and 
defeat  the  object  of  your  visit,  which  is  that  you  may 
rescue  an  unhappy  spirit  whose  repentant  prayers  have 
reached  the  higher  spheres,  and  will  be  answered  by  the 
help  you  are  sent  to  give  him.  You  will  find  the  person 
you  seek  without  any  difficulty.  His  desire  for  help  has 
already  drawn  us  thus  near  to  him  and  will  draw  you  still 
closer.  I  must  now  for  a  time  part  from  you  because  I 
have  my  own  path  of  work  to  follow,  but  we  shall  meet 
again  ere  long,  and  if  you  but  keep  a  stout  heart  and  a 
strong  will  and  do  not  forget  the  warnings  given  you,  no 
harm  can  befall  you.  Adieu,  my  friend,  and  know  that  I 
also  shall  need  all  my  powers." 

Thus,  then,  I  parted  from  Faithful  Friend  and  passed 


132     A  AY  AND  I '.  1 1 E  R  IN  T 1 1 E  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

on  alone  into  the  Council  Chamber,  which  I  found 
thronged  with  spirits,  both  men  and  women,  and  fur- 
nished with  all  the  barbaric  splendor  of  the  days  of  the 
Emperors;  yet  to  my  sighi  there  was  over  everything  the 
same  stamp  of  foul  Loathsomeness  which  had  struck  me  in 
the  exterior  of  the  palace.  The  men  and  women, 
hanghty  patricians  in  their  lives,  no  doubt,  appeared  to 
be  eaten  up  with  a  loathsome  disease  like  lepers,  only  they 
were  even  more  horrible  to  look  upon.  'The  walls  and 
floors  seemed  stained  with  dark  pools  of  blood  and  hung 
with  evil  thoughts  for  drapery.  Worm-eaten  and  cor- 
rupting were  the  stately  robes  these  haughty  spirits  wore, 
and  saturated  with  the  disease  germs  from  their  corrupted 
bodies. 

On  a  great  throne  sat  the  Emperor  himself,  the  most 
fold  and  awful  example  of  degraded  intellect  and  man- 
hood in  all  that  vast  crowd  of  degraded  spirits,  while 
stamped  upon  his  features  was  such  a  look  of  cruelty  and 
vice  that  beside  him  the  others  sank  into  insignificance  by 
comparison.  I  could  not  but  admire,  even  while  it  re- 
volted me,  the  majestic  power  of  this  man's  intellect  and 
will.  The  kingly  sense  of  power  over  even  such  a  motley 
crew  as  these,  the  feeling  that  even  in  Hell  he  reigned  as 
by  a  right,  seemed  to  minister  to  his  pride  and  love  of 
dominion  even  in  the  midst  of  his  awful  surroundings. 

Looking  at  him  I  beheld  him  for  one  brief  moment, 
not  as  I  saw  him  and  as  he  saw  these  disgusting  creatures 
round  him,  but  as  he  still  appeared  in  his  own  eyes,  which 
even  after  all  these  centuries  were  not  opened  to  his  true 
state,  his  real  self.  I. saw  him  as  a  haughty  handsome 
man,  with  cruel  clear-cut  features,  hard  expression,  and 
eyes  like  a  wild  vulture,  yet  withal  possessing  a  certain 
beauty  of  form,  a  certain  power  to  charm.  All  that  was 
repulsive  and  vile  was  hidden  by  the  earthly  envelope,  not 
revealed  as  now  in  all  the  nakedness  of  the  spirit. 

I  saw  his  court  and  his  companions  change  back  to 
the  likeness  of  their  earthly  lives,  and  I  knew  that  to  each 
and  all  they  appeared  just  the  same  in  their  own  eyes,  all 
were  alike  unconscious  of  the  horrible  change  in  them- 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     133 

selves,  yet  perfectly  conscious  of  the  change  in  each  of 
their  companions. 

Were  all  unconscious ?  Xo!  not  quite  all.  There 
was  one  man  crouching  in  a  corner,  his  mantle  drawn 
over  his  disfigured  face,  whom  I  perceived  to  be  fully 
conscious  of  his  own  vileness  as  well  as  the  vileness  of  all 
who  surrounded  him. 

And  in  this  man's  heart  there  had  sprung  up  a  desire, 
hopeless,  as  it  seemed  to  himself,  for  better  things,  for  a 
path  to  open  before  him  which,  however  hard  and  thorny, 
might  lead  him  from  this  night  of  Hell  and  give  him  even 
at  this  eleventh  hour  the  hope  of  a  life  removed  from  the 
horrors  of  this  place  and  these  associates;  and  as  I  looked 
I  knew  it  was  to  this  man  that  I  was  sent,  though  how  I 
was  to  help  him  I  knew  not,  I  could  not  guess.  I  only 
felt  that  the  power  which  had  led  me  so  far  would  open 
up  my  path  and  show  me  the  way. 

While  I  had  stood  thus  gazing  around  me  the  dark 
spirits  and  their  Ruler  became  conscious  of  my  presence, 
and  a  look  of  anger  and  ferocity  passed  over  his  face, 
while  in  a  voice  thick  and  hoarse  with  passion  he  de- 
manded who  I  was  and  how  I  dared  to  enter  his  presence. 

I  answered:  "I  am  a  stranger  only  lately  come  to  this 
dark  sphere  and  I  am  still  lost  in  wonder  at  finding  such 
a  place  in  the  spirit  world." 

A  wild  ferocious  laugh  broke  from  the  spirit,  and  he 
cried  out  that  they  would  soon  enlighten  me  as  to  many 
things  in  the  spirit  world.  "But  since  you  are  a  stranger," 
he  continued,  "and  because  we  always  receive  strangers 
right  royally  here,  I  pray  you  to  be  seated  and  partake 
with  us  of  our  feast." 

He  pointed  to  a  vacant  seat  at  the  long  table  in  front 
of  him  at  which  many  of  the  spirits  were  seated,  and 
which  was  spread  with  what  bore  the  semblance  of  a 
great  feast,  such  as  might  have  been  given  in  the  days  of 
his  earthly  grandeur.  Everything  looked  real  enough, 
but  I  had  been  warned  that  it  was  all  more  or  less  illusion- 
ary,  that  the  food  never  satisfied  the  awful  cravings  of 
hunger  which  these  former  gluttons  felt,  and  that  the 


l : ;  I     A  WAND  E 1 1 E 1 1  1  X  T 1 1  E  S  PIHIT  LAXDS. 

wine  was  a  fiery  liquid  which  scorched  the  throat  and 
rendered  a  thousand  times  vrorse  the  thirst  which  con- 
sumed these  drunkards.  I  had  heen  told  to  neither  eat 
nor  drink  anything  offered  me  in  these  regions,  nor  to 
accept  any  invitation  to  resl  myself  given  by  these  beings; 
for  to  do  so  would  mean  the  subjugation  of  my  higher 
powers  to  the  senses  once  more,  and  would  at  once  put  me 
more  on  a  level  with  those  dark  heings  and  into  their 
power.  I  answered:  "While  I  fully  appreciate  the  mo- 
tives which  prompt  you  to  offer  me  the  hospitality  of  your 
place,  I  must  still  decline  it,  as  I  have  no  desire  to  either 
eat  or  drink  anything." 

At  this  rebuff  his  eyes  shot  gleams  of  living  fire  at 
me  and  a  deeper  shade  of  anger  crossed  his  hrow,  hut  he 
still  maintained  a  pretense  of  graciousness  and  signed  to 
me  to  approach  yet  nearer  to  him.  Meanwhile  the  man 
whom  I  had  come  to  help,  aroused  from  his  hitter  medita- 
-tions  by  my  arrival  and  the  Emperor's  speech  with  me, 
had  drawn  near  in  wonder  at  my  holdness  and  alarmed 
for  my  safety,  for  he  knew  no  more  of  me  than  that  I 
seemed  some  unlucky  new  arrival  who  had  not  yet  learned 
the  dangers  of  this  horrible  place.  His  anxiety  for  me 
and  a  certain  sense  of  pity  created  a  link  between  us, 
which,  unknown  to  either,  was  to  be  the  means  whereby 
I  would  be  able  to  draw  him  away  with  me. 

When  I  advanced  a  few  steps  towards  the  Emperor's 
throne  this  repentant  spirit  followed  me,  and,  coming 
close,  whispered: 

"Do  not  be  beguiled  by  him.  Turn  and  fly  from  this 
place  while  there  is  yet  time,  and  I  will  draw  their  atten- 
tion from  you  for  the  moment." 

I  thanked  the  spirit  but  said:  "I  shall  not  fly  from 
any  man,  be  he  whom  he  may,  and  will  take  care  not  to 
fall  into  any  trap." 

Our  hurried  speech  had  not  been  unnoticed  by  the 
Emperor,  for  he  became  most  impatient,  and  striking  his 
sword  upon  the  ground  he  cried  out  to  me: 

"Approach,  stranger!  Have  you  no  manners  that 
you  keep  an  Emperor  waiting?     Behold  my  chair  of  state, 


A  WANDEBER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     135 

my  throne,  seat  yourself  in  it  and  try  for  a  moment  how 
it  i'eels  to  be  in  an  Emperor's  place." 

I  looked  at  the  throne  as  he  pointed,  and  saw  it  was 
like  a  great  chair  with  a  canopy  over  it.  Two  immense 
winged  figures  in  bronze  stood  at  the  back  of  the  seat, 
each  with  six  long  arms  extended  to  form  the  back  and 
sides,  while  upon  the  heads  of  these  figures  the  canopy 
rested  as  upon  pillars.  I  had  no  thought  to  sit  in  such  a 
place;  its  late  occupant  was  too  repulsive  to  me  for  me  to 
desire  to  go  any  nearer  to  him,  but  had  even  curiosity 
made  me  wish  to  examine  the  chair  the  sight  I  saw  would 
have  effectually  prevented  me.  The  chair  seemed  sud- 
denly to  become  endowed  with  life,  and  before  my  eyes  I 
beheld  a  vision  of  an  unhappy  spirit  struggling  in  the 
embraces  of  those  awful  arms  which  encircled  it  and 
crushed  its  body  into  a  mangled  writhing  mass.  And  I 
knew  that  such  was  the  fate  of  all  those  whom  the 
Emperor  induced  to  try  the  comforts  of  his  chair.  Only 
for  one  brief  instant  the  vision  lasted  and  then  I  turned 
to  the  Emperor  and,  bowing,  said  to  him: 

"I  have  no  desire  to  place  myself  upon  your  level, 
and  must  again  decline  the  honor  you  would  do  me." 

Then  he  broke  into  a  tempest  of  rage,  and  cried  out 
to  his  guards  to  seize  me  and  thrust  me  into  that  chair  and 
pour  the  food  and  the  wine  down  my  throat  till  they 
choked  me. 

Immediately  there  was  a  rush  made  towards  me,  the 
man  I  had  come  to  save  throwing  himself  before  me  to 
protect  me,  and  in  a  moment  we  were  surrounded  by  a 
seething,  fighting  mass  of  spirits,  and  for  that  moment,  I 
confess  my  heart  sank  within  me  and  my  courage  began 
to  fail.  They  looked  so  horrible,  so  fiendish,  so  like  a 
pack  of  wild  beasts  let  loose  and  all  setting  upon  me  at 
once.  Only  for  a  moment,  however,  for  the  conflict 
aroused  all  my  combative  qualities  of  which  I  have  been 
thought  to  posses-  my  fair  share.  And  I  threw  out  all  my 
will  to  repel  them,  calling  upon  all  good  powers  to  aid 
me  while  1  grasped  firm  hold  of  the  poor  spirit  who  had 
sought  to  help  me.     Thus  I  retreated  to  the  door,  step 


13G     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

by  step,  the  whole  crowd  of  dark  spirits  following  us  with 
wild  cries  and  menacing  gestures,  yet  unable  to  touch  us 
while  I  kept  firm  my  determination  to  keep  them  off.  At 
last  we  reached  the  door  and  passed  through  it,  where- 
upon it  seemed  to  close  fast  and  keep  in  our  pursuers. 
Then  strong  arms  seemed  to  lift  us  both  up  and  bear  us 
away  into  a  place  of  safety  on  the  dark  plain. 

My  rescued  companion  was  by  this  time  in  a  state  of 
unconsciousness,  and  as  I  stood  by  him  I  saw  four 
majestic  spirits  from  the  higher  spheres  making  magnetic 
passes  over  his  prostrate  form;  and  then  I  beheld  the  most 
wonderful  sight  I  had  ever  seen.  From  the  dark  dis- 
figured body  which  lay  as  in  a  sleep  of  death  there  arose 
a  mist-like  vapor  which  grew  more  and  more  dense  till  it 
took  shape  in  the  form  of  the  spirit  himself;  the  purified 
soul  of  that  poor  spirit  released  from  its  dark  envelope; 
and  I  saw  those  four  angelic  spirits  lift  the  still  uncon- 
scious risen  soul  in  their  arms  as  one  would  bear  a  child, 
and  then  they  all  floated  away  from  me  up,  up,  till  they 
vanished  from  my  sight.  At  my  side  stood  another  bright 
angel  who  said  to  me:  "Be  of  good  cheer,  oh!  Son  of  the 
Land  of  Hope,  for  many  shalt  thou  help  in  this  dark  land, 
and  great  is  the  joy  of  the  angels  in  Heaven  over  these 
sinners  that  have  repented." 

As  he  finished  speaking  he  vanished,  and  I  was  alone 
once  more  on  the  bleak  plains  of  Hell. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     137 


CHAPTER  XXL 

Away  before  me  stretched  a  narrow  path,  and  curious 
to  see  where  it  would  lead  I  followed  it,  sure  that  it  would 
somehow  lead  me  to  those  whom  I  could  help.  After 
following  it  for  a  short  time  I  came  to  the  foot  of  a  range 
of  black  mountains,  and  before  me  was  the  entrance  to  a 
huge  cavern.  Horrible  reptiles  were  hanging  on  to  the 
walls  and  crawling  at  my  feet.  Great  funguses  and  mon- 
strous air  plants  of  an  oozy  slimy  kind  hung  in  festoons 
like  ragged  shrouds  from  the  roof,  and  a  dark  pool  of 
stagnant  water  almost  covered  the  floor.  I  thought  of 
turning  away  from  this  spot,  but  a  voice  seemed  to  bid  me 
go  on,  so  I  entered,  and  skirting  round  the  edge  of  the 
dark  pool  found  myself  at  the  entrance  to  a  small  dark 
passage  in  the  rocks.  Down  this  I  went,  and  turning  a 
corner  saw  before  me  a  red  light  as  from  a  fire,  while  dark 
forms  like  goblins  passed  and  repassed  between  it  and 
myself.  Another  moment  and  I  stood  at  the  end  of  the 
passage.  Before  me  was  a  gigantic  dungeon-like  vault, 
its  uneven  rocky  roof  half  revealed  and  half  hidden  by  the 
masses  of  lurid  smoke  and  flames  which  arose  from  an 
enormous  fire  blazing  in  the  middle  of  the  cavern,  while, 
round  it  were  dancing  such  a  troop  of  demons  as  might 
well  typify  the  Devils  of  Hell.  With  shrieks  and  yells  of 
laughter  they  were  prodding  at  the  fire  with  long  black 
spears  and  dancing  and  flinging  themselves  about  in  the 
wildest  fashion,  while  in  a  corner  were  huddled  together 
a  dozen  or  so  of  miserable  dark  spirits  towards  whom 
they  made  frantic  rushes  from  time  to  time  as  if  about  to 
seize  and  hurl  them  into  the  fire,  always  retreating  again 
with  yells  and  howls  of  rage. 


138    A  w  \\i)i:i;i:i;  I\  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

I  soon  perceived  thai  I  was  invisible  to  these  heings, 
so  taking  courage  from  that  fact,  I  drew  nearer.  To  my 
horror  I  discovered  that  the  fire  was  composed  of  the 
hodies  of  living  men  and  women  who  writhed  and  twisted 
in  the  flames,  and  were  tossed  about  by  the  spears  of  those 
awful  (lemons.  I  was  so  appalled  by  this  discovery  that 
I  cried  out  to  know  if  this  was  a  real  scene  or  only  some 
horrible  illusion  of  this  dreadful  place,  and  the  same  deep 
mysterious  voice  that  had  often  spoken  to  me  in  my 
Wanderings  answered  me  now: 

"Son!  they  are  living  souls  who  in  their  earthly  lives 
doomed  hundreds  of  their  fellow  men  to  die  this  dreadful 
death,  and  knew  no  pity,  no  remorse,  in  doing  so.  Their 
own  cruelties  have  kindled  these  fierce  flames  of  passion 
and  hate  in  the  breasts  of  their  many  victims,  and  in  the 
spirit  world  these  fiery  germs  have  grown  till  they  are  now 
a  fierce  flame  to  consume  the  oppressors.  These  fires  are 
fed  solely  by  the  fierce  cruelties  of  those  they  now  con- 
sume; there  is  not  here  one  pang  of  anguish  which  has 
not  been  suffered  a  hundred  fold  more  in  the  persons  of 
these  spirits'  many  helpless  victims.  From  this  fire  these 
spirits  will  come  forth  touched  by  a  pity,  born  of  their 
own  sufferings,  for  those  they  wronged  in  the  past,  and 
then  will  be  extended  to  them  the  hand  of  help  and  the 
means  of  progression  through  deeds  of  mercy  as  many  and 
as  great  as  have  been  their  merciless  deeds  in  the  past. 
Do  not  shudder  nor  marvel  that  such  retribution  as  this 
is  allowed  to  be.  The  souls  of  these  spirits  were  so  hard, 
'so  cruel,  that  only  sufferings  felt  by  themselves  could 
make  them  pity  others.  Even  since  they  left  the  earth 
life  they  have  only  been  intent  upon  making  others  more 
helpless  suffer,  till  the  bitter  hatred  they  have  aroused  has 
become  at  last  a  torrent  which  has  engulfed  themselves. 
Furthermore,  know  that  these  flames  are  not  truly 
material,  although  to  your  eyes  and  to  theirs  they  appear 
so,  for  in  the  spirit  world  that  which  is  mental  is  likewise 
objective,  and  fierce  hatred  or  binning  passion  does  in- 
deed seem  a  living  fire.  You  shall  now  follow  one  of 
these  spirits  and  see  for  yourself  that  what  seems  to  you 


A  WANDEKEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     139 

cruel  justice  is  yet  mercy  in  disguise.  Behold  these 
passions  .ire  burning  themselves  out  and  the  souls  are 
about  to  pass  into  the  darkness  of  the  plain  beyond." 

As  the  voice  ceased  the  flames  died  down  and  all  was 
darkness  save  for  a  faint  bluish  light  like  phosphorus  that 
filled  the  cavern,  and  by  it  I  saw  the  forms  of  the  spirits 
rise  from  the  ashes  of  the  fire  and  pass  out  of  the  cavern. 
As  I  followed  them  one  became  separated  from  the  others 
and  passing  on  before  me  went  into  the  streets  of  a  city 
that  was  near.  It  seemed  to  me  like  one  of  the  old  Span- 
ish cities  of  the  West  Indies  or  South  America.  There 
were  Indians  passing  along  its  streets  and  mingling  with 
Spaniards  and  men  of  several  other  nations. 

Following  the  spirit  through  several  streets  we  came 
to  a  large  building  which  seemed  to  be  a  monastery  of  the 
order  of  Jesuits — who  had  helped  to  colonize  the  country 
and  force  upon  the  unhappy  natives  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion,  in  the  days  when  religious  persecution  was 
thought  by  most  creeds  to  be  a  proof  of  religious  zeal;  and 
then,  while  I  stood  watching  this  spirit.  I  saw  pass  before 
me  a  panorama  of  his  life. 

I  saw  him  first  chief  of  his  order,  sitting  as  a  judge 
before  whom  were  brought  many  poor  Indians  and 
heretics,  and  I  saw  him  condemning  them  by  hundreds  to 
torture  and  flames  because  they  would  not  become  con- 
verts to  his  teaching-.  I  saw  him  oppressing  all  who  were 
not  powerful  enough  to  resist  him.  and  extorting  jewels 
and  gold  in  enormous  quantities  as  tribute  to  him  and  to 
lu's  order;  and  if  any  sought  to  resist  him  and  his  demands 
he  had  them  arrested  and  almost  without  even  the  pre- 
tense of  a  trial  thrown  into  dungeons  and  tortured  and 
burned.  I  read  in  his  heart  a  perfect  thirst  for  wealth 
and  power  and  an  actual  love  for  beholding  the  sufferings 
of  his  victims,  and  I  knew  (reading  as  I  seemed  to  do  his 
innermost  soul)  that  his  religion  was  but  a  cloak,  a  con- 
venient name,  under  which  to  extort  the  gold  he  loved 
and  gratify  his  love  of  power. 

Again  I  saw  the  great  square  or  market  place  of  this 
city  with  hundreds  of  great  fires  blazing  all  round  it  till 


IKi     A  WANDERER  IX  TITE  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

it  was  like  a  furnace,  and  a  whole  helpless  crowd  of  timid 
gentle  natives  were  bound  hand  and  loot  and  thrown  into 
the  flames,  and  their  cries  of  agony  went  up  to  1  leave*  as 
this  cruel  man  and  his  vile  accomplices  chanted  their  false 

prayers  and  held  aloft  the  sacred  cross  winch  was  dese- 
crated by  th'eir  unholy  hands,  their  horrible  lives  of  cru- 
elty and  vice,  and  their  greed  for  gold.  I  saw  that  this 
horror  was  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the  Church  of 
Christ — of  him  whose  teachings  were  of  love  and  charity. 
who  came  to  teach  that  God  was  perfect  Love.  And  I 
saw  this  man  who  called  himself  Christ's  minister,  and 
yet  had  no  thought  of  pity  for  one  of  these  unhappy  vic- 
tims; he  thought  alone  of  how  the  spectacle  would  strike 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  other  Indian  tribes,  and  make  them 
bring  him  more  gold  to  satisfy  bis  greedy  lust.  Then  I 
beheld  this  man  returned  to  his  own  land  of  Spain  and 
revelling  in  his  ill-gotten  wealth,  a  powerful  wealthy 
prince  of  the  church,  venerated  by  the  poor  ignorant  pop- 
ulace as  a  holy  man  who  bad  gone  forth  into  that  Western 
"World  beyond  the  seas  to  plant  the  banner  of  his  church 
and  preach  the  blessed  gospel  of  love  and  peace,  while, 
instead,  his  path  had  been  marked  in  fire  and  blood,  and 
then  my  sympathy  for  him  was  gone.  Then  I  saw  this 
man  upon  his  deathbed,  and  I  saw  monks  and  priests 
chanting  mass  for  his  soul  that  it  might  go  to  Heaven,  and 
instead  I  saw  it  drawn  down  and  down  to  Hell  by  the 
chains  woven  in  bis  wicked  life.  I  saw  the  great  hordes 
of  bis  former  victims  awaiting  him  there,  drawn  down  in 
their  turn  by  their  thirst  for  revenge,  their  hunger  for 
] tower  to  avenge  their  sufferings  and  the  sufferings  of 
those  most  dear  to  them. 

I  saw  this  man  in  Hell  surrounded  by  those  he  had 
wronged,  and  haunted  by  the  empty  wraiths  of  such  as 
were  too  good  and  pure  to  come  to  this  place  of  horror  or 
to  wish  for  vengeance  on  their  murderer,  just  as  I  had 
seen  in  the  Frozen  Land  with  the  man  in  the  icy  cage;  and 
in  Hell  the  only  thought  of  that  spirit  was  rage  because 
his  power  of  earth  was  no  more — his  only  idea  how  he 
might  join  with  others  in  Hell  as  cruel  as  himself  and 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     141 

thus  still  oppress  and  torture.  If  he  could  have  doomed 
his  victims  to  death  a  second  time  he  would  have  done  it. 
In  his  heart  there  was  neither  pity  nor  remorse,  only 
anger  that  he  was  so  powerless.  Had  he  possessed  one 
feeling  of  sorrow  or  one  thought  of  kindness  for  another, 
it  would  have  helped  him  and  created  a  wall  between  him- 
self and  these  vengeful  spirits,  and  his  sufferings,  though 
they  might  be  great,  would  not  have  at  last  assumed  the 
physical  aspect  in  which  I  had  beheld  them.  As  it  was 
his  passion  of  cruelty  was  so  great  it  fed  and  fanned  into 
fresh  life  the  spiritual  flames  which  theirs  created,  till  at 
last  when  I  saw  him  first  they  were  dying  out  exhausted 
by  their  own  violence.  Those  demons  I  had  beheld  were 
the  last  and  most  fierce  of  his  victims  in  whom  the  desire 
for  revenge  was  even  then  not  fully  satisfied,  while  those 
I  had  beheld  crouching  in  the  corner  were  some  who,  no 
longer  desirous  of  tormenting  him  themselves,  had  yet 
been  unable  to  withdraw  themselves  from  beholding  his 
sufferings  and  those  of  his  accomplices. 

And  now  I  beheld  that  spirit  with  the  newly 
awakened  thought  of  repentance,  returning  to  the  city  to 
warn  others  of  his  Jesuit  fraternity,  and  to  try  to  turn 
them  from  the  path  of  his  own  errors.  He  did  not  yet 
realize  the  length  of  time  that  had  elapsed  since  he  had 
left  the  earth  life,  nor  that  this  city  was  the  spiritual 
counterpart  of  the  one  he  had  lived  in  on  earth.  In  time, 
I  was  told,  he  would  be  sent  back  to  earth  to  work  as  a 
spirit  in  helping  to  teach  mortals  the  pity  and  mercy  he 
had  not  shown  in  his  own  life,  but  first  he  would  have  to 
work  here  in  this  dark  place,  striving  to  release  the  souls 
of  those  whom  his  crimes  had  dragged  down  with  him. 
Thus  I  left  this  man  at  the  door  of  that  building  which 
was  the  counterpart  of  his  earthly  house,  and  passed  on 
by  myself  through  the  city. 

Like  the  Roman  city  this  one  was  disfigured  and  its 
beauties  blotted  out  by  the  crimes  of  which  it  had  been 
the  silent  witness;  and  to  me  the  air  seemed  full  of  dark 
phantom  forms  wailing  and  weeping  and  dragging  after 
them  their  heavy  chains.     The  whole  place  seemed  built 


142    a  waxdi:im:i;  in  TfiE  spirit  lands. 

upon  living  graves  and  shrouded  in  a  dark  red  mist  of 
blood  and  tears.  It  was  like  one  vast  prison  house  whose 
Avails  were  built  of  deeds  of  violence  and  robbery  and 
oppression. 

And  as  I  wandered  on  I  had  a  waking  dream,  and 
saw  the  city  as  it  had  been  on  earth  ere  the  white  man 
had  set  his  foot  upon  its  soil.  1  saw  a  peaceful  primitive 
people  living  upon  fruits  and  grains  and  leading  their 
simple  lives  in  an  innocence  akin  to  that  of  childhood, 
worshiping  the  Great  Supreme  under  a  name  of  their 
own,  yet  none  the  less  worshiping  him  in  spirit  and  in 
truth — their  simple  faith  and  their  patient  virtues  the 
outcome  of  the  inspiration  given  them  from  that  Great 
Spirit  who  is  universal  and  belongs  to  no  creeds,  no 
churches.  Then  I  saw  white  men  come  thirsting  for  gold 
and  greedy  to  grasp  the  goods  of  others,  and  these  simple 
people  welcomed  them  like  brothers,  and  in  their  inno- 
cence showed  them  the  treasures  they  had  gathered  from 
the  earth — gold  and  silver  and  jewels.  Then  I  saw  the 
treachery  which  marked  the  path  of  the  white  man;  how 
they  plundered  and  killed  the  simple  natives;  how  they 
tortured  and  made  slaves  of  them,  forcing  them  to  labor 
in  the  mines  till  they  died  by  thousands;  how  all  faith,  all 
promises,  were  broken  by  the  white  man  till  the  peaceful 
happy  country  was  filled  with  tears  and  blood. 

Then  I  beheld  afar,  away  in  Spain,  a  few  good,  true, 
kindly  men  whose  souls  were  pure  and  who  believed  that 
they  alone  had  the  true  faith  by  which  only  man  can  be 
saved  and  live  eternally,  who  thought  that  God  had  given 
this  light  to  but  one  small  spot  of  his  earth,  and  had  left 
all  the  rest  in  darkness  and  error — had  left  countless 
thousands  to  perish  because  this  light  had  been  denied  to 
them  but  given  exclusively  to  that  one  small  spot  of  earth, 
that  small  section  of  his  people. 

I  thought  that  these  good  and  pure  men  were  so 
sorry  for  those  who,  they  thought,  were  in  the  darkness 
and  error  of  a  false  religion,  that  they  set  forth  and 
crossed  that  unknown  ocean  to  that  strange  far-away  land 
to  carry  with  them  their  system  of  religion,  and  to  give  it 


A  AYAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     143 

to  those  poor  simple  people  whose  lives  had  been  so  good 
and  gentle  and  spiritual  under  their  own  faith,  their  own 
beliefs. 

I  saw  these  good  but  ignorant  priests  land  on  this 
strange  shore  and  beheld  them  working  everywhere 
amongst  the  natives,  spreading  their  own  belief  and 
crushing  out  and  destroying  all  traces  of  a  primitive  faith 
as  worthy  of  respect  as  their  own.  These  priests  were 
kind  good  men  who  sought  to  alleviate  the  physical  lot  of 
the  poor  oppressed  natives  even  while  they  labored  for 
their  spiritual  welfare  also,  and  on  every  side  there  sprang 
up  missions,  churches  and  schools. 

Then  I  beheld  great  numbers  of  men,  priests  as  well 
as  many  others,  come  over  from  Spain,  eager,  not  for  the 
good  of  the  church  nor  to  spread  the  truths  of  their  re- 
ligion, but  only  greedy  for  the  gold  of  this  new  land,  and 
for  all  that  could  minister  to  their  own  gratification;  men 
whose  lives  had  disgraced  them  in  their  own  country  till 
they  were  obliged  to  fly  to  this  strange  one  to  escape  the 
consequences  of  their  misdeeds.  I  saw  these  men  arrive 
in  hordes  and  mingle  with  those  whose  motives  were  pure 
and  good,  till  they  had  outnumbered  them,  and  then 
thrust  the  good  aside  everywhere,  and  made  of  themselves 
tyrannical  masters  over  the  unhappy  natives,  in  the  name 
of  the  Holy  Church  of  Christ. 

And  then  I  saw  the  Inquisition  brought  to  the  un- 
happy land  and  established  as  the  last  link  in  the  chain 
of  slavery  and  oppression  thus  riveted  round  this  unhappy 
people,  till  it  swept  almost  all  of  them  from  the  face  of 
the  earth;  and  everywhere  I  beheld  the  wild  thirst,  the 
greed  for  gold  that  consumed  as  with  a  fire  of  hell  all  who 
sought  that  land.  Blind  were  most  of  them  to  all  its 
beauties  but  its  gold,  deaf  to  all  thought  but  how  they 
might  enrich  themselves  with  it;  and.  in  the  madness  of 
that  time  and  that  awful  craving  for  wealth  was  this  city 
of  Hell,  this  spiritual  counterpart  of  the  earthly  city  built, 
stone  upon  stone,  particle  by  particle,  forming  between 
itself  and  the  city  of  earth  chains  of  attraction  which 
should  draw  down  one  by  one  each  of  its  wicked  inhabi- 


144    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

t ai its,  for  truly  the  earthly  lives  are  building  for  each  man 
and  woman  their  spiritual  habitations.  Thus  all  these 
monks  and  priests,  all  these  fine  ladies,  all  these  soldiers 
and  merchants,  yea.  and  even  these  unhappy  natives  had 
been  drawn  down  to  Hell  by  the  deeds  of  their  earthly 
lives,  by  the  passions  and  hatreds,  the  greed  of  gold,  the 
bitter  sense  of  wrongs  unrequited  and  the  thirst  for  re- 
venge which  those  deeds  had  created. 

*         *         *         *         *         *         *         *         * 

At  the  door  of  a  large  square  building,  whose  small 
grated  windows  looked  like  a  prison,  I  stopped,  arrested 
by  the  cries  and  shouts  which  came  from  it;  then  guided 
by  the  mysterious  voice  of  my  unseen  guide  I  entered,  and 
following  the  sounds  soon  came  to  a  dungeon  cell.  Here 
I  found  a  great  number  of  spirits  surrounding  a  man  who 
was  chained  to  the  wrall  by  an  iron  girdle  round  his  wraist. 
His  wild  glaring  eyes,  disheveled  hair  and  tattered  cloth- 
ing suggested  that  he  had  been  there  for  many  years, 
while  the  hollow  sunken  cheeks  and  the  bones  sticking 
through  his  skin  told  that  he  was  to  all  appearance  dying 
of  starvation;  yet  I  knew  that  here  there  was  no  death,  no 
such  relief  from  suffering.  Near  him  stood  another  man 
with  folded  arms  and  bowed  head,  whose  wasted  features 
and  skeleton  form  scarred  writh  many  wounds  made  him 
an  even  more  pitiable  object  than  the  other,  though  he 
was  free  while  the  other  was  chained  to  the  wall.  Around 
them  both  danced  and  yelled  other  spirits,  all  wild  and 
savage  and  degraded.  Some  of  them  were  Indians,  a  few 
Spanish,  and  one  or  two  looked,  I  thought,  like  English- 
men. All  were  at  the  same  work — throwing  sharp  knives 
at  the  chained  man  that  never  seemed  to  hit  him,  shaking 
their  fists  in  his  face,  cursing  and  reviling  him,  yet, 
strange  to  say,  never  able  to  actually  touch  him,  and  all 
the  time  there  he  stood  chained  to  the  wall,  unable  to 
move  or  get  away  from  them.  And  there  stood  the  other 
man  silently  watching  him. 

As  I  stood  looking  at  this  scene  I  became  conscious 
of  the  past  history  of  those  two  men.  I  saw  the  one  who 
was  chained  to  the  wall  in  a  handsome  house  like  a  palace, 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     145 

and  knew  ho  had  been  one  of  the  judges  sent  out  from 
Spain  to  preside  over  the  so-called  courts  of  justice,  which 
had  but  proved  additional  means  for  extorting  money 
from  the  natives  and  oppressing  all  who  sought  to  inter- 
fere with  the  rich  and  powerful.  I  saw  the  other  man 
who  had  been  a  merchant,  living  in  a  pretty  villa  with  a 
beautiful,  a  very  beautiful,  wife  and  one  little  child.  This 
woman  had  attracted  the  notice  of  the  judge,  who  con- 
ceived an  unholy  passion  for  her,  and  on  her  persistently 
repulsing  all  his  advances  he  made  an  excuse  to  have  the 
husband  arrested  on  suspicion  by  the  Inquisition  and 
thrown  into  prison.  Then  he  carried  off  the  poor  wife 
and  so  insulted  her  that  she  died,  and  the  poor  little  child 
was  strangled  by  order  of  the  cruel  judge. 

Meantime  the  unfortunate  husband  lay  in  prison, 
ignorant  of  the  fate  of  his  wife  and  child  and  of  the 
charge  under  which  he  had  been  arrested,  growing  more 
and  more  exhausted  from  the  scanty  food  and  the  horrors 
of  his  dungeon,  and  more  and  more  desperate  from  the 
suspense.  At  last  he  was  brought  before  the  council  of 
the  Inquisition,  charged  with  heretical  practices  and  con- 
spiracy against  the  crown,  and  on  denial  of  these  charges 
was  tortured  to  make  him  confess  and  give  up  the  names 
of  certain  of  his  friends  who  were  accused  of  being  his 
accomplices.  As  the  poor  man,  bewildered  and  indignant, 
still  protested  his  innocence  he  was  sent  back  to  his  dun- 
geon and  there  slowly  starved  to  death,  the  cruel  judge 
not  daring  to  set  him  at  liberty,  well  knowing  that  he 
would  make  the  city  ring  with  the  story  of  his  wrongs  and 
his  wife's  fate  when  he  should  learn  it. 

And  so  this  poor  man  had  died,  but  he  did  not  join 
his  wife,  who,  poor  injured  soul,  had  passed  at  once  with 
her  little  innocent  child  into  the  higher  spheres.  She  was 
so  good  and  pure  and  gentle  that  she  had  even  forgiven 
her  murderer — for  such  he  was,  though  he  had  not  in- 
tended to  kill  her — and  between  her  and  the  husband  she 
so  dearly  loved  there  was  a  wall  created  by  his  bitter  re- 
vengeful feelings  against  the  man  who  had  destroyed 
them  both. 


in;    A  WAtfDEKEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

When    this    poor  vrrohged    husband  died,  his  soul 

could  not  leave  llif  earth.  It  was  tied  there  by  his  hatred 
of  his  enemy  and  his  thirsl  for  revenge.  His  own  wrongs 
he  might  have  forgiven,  hut  the  fate  of  his  wife  and  child 
had  been  too  dreadful  lie  .eoiild  not  forgive  that.  Be- 
fore even  his  love  for  his  wife  came  this  hate,  and  day  and 
night  his  spirit  clung  fast  to  the  judge,  seeking  for  the 
chance  of  vengeance;  and  at  last  it  came.  Devils  from 
Hell — sueli  as  had  once  tempted  me — clustered  round  the 
wronged  spirit  and  taught  it  how  through  the  hand  of  a 
mortal  it  could  strike  the  assassin's  dagger  to  the  judge's 
heart,  and  then  when  death  severed  the  body  and  the 
spirit  he  could  drag  that  down  with  him  to  Hell.  So  ter- 
rible had  been  this  craving  for  revenge,  nursed  through 
the  waiting  years  of  solitude  in  prison  and  in  the  spirit 
land,  that  the  poor  wife  had  tried  and  tried  in  vain  to 
draw  near  her  husband  and  soften  his  heart  with  better 
.thoughts.  Her  gentle  soul  was  shut  out  by  the  wall  of 
evil  drawn  round  the  unhappy  man,  and  he  also  had  no 
hope  of  ever  seeing  her  again.  He  deemed  that  she  had 
gone  to  Heaven  and  was  lost  to  him  for  evermore.  A 
Roman  Catholic  of  the  narrow  views  held  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  ago  when  this  man  had  lived,  he  helievcd  that 
being  under  the  ban  of  its  priests  and  denied  the  ministra- 
tions of  the  church  when  he  died,  was  the  reason  he  was 
one  of  the  eternally  lost,  while  his  wife  and  child  must  be 
with  the  angels  of  Heaven.  Is  it  wonderful,  then,  that 
all  this  poor  spirit's  thoughts  should  center  in  the  desire 
for  vengeance,  and  that  he  should  plan  only  how  to  make 
his  enemy  suffer  as  he  had  heen  made  to  suffer?  Thus, 
then,  it  was  he  who  inspired  a  man  on  earth  to  kill  the 
judge;  his  hand  guided  the  mortal's  with  so  unerring  an 
aim  that  the  judge  fell  pierced  to  his  false,  cruel  heart. 
The  earthly  body  died  but  the  immortal  soul  lived,  and 
awakened  to  find  itself  in  Hell,  chained  to  a  dungeon  wall 
as  he  had  chained  his  victim,  and  face  to  face  with 
him  at  last. 

There  were  others  whom  the  judge  had  wronged  and 
sent  to  a  death  of  suffering  to  gratify  his  anger  or  to 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIEIT  LANDS.     1  IT 

enrich  himself  at  their  expense,  and  these  all  gathered 
round  him  and  made  his  awakening  a  Hell  indeed.  Yet 
such  was  the  indomitable  strength  of  will  of  this  man  that 
none  of  the  blows  aimed  at  him  could  touch  him,  none  of 
the  missiles  strike,  and  thus  through  all  the  years  had 
those  two  deadly  enemies  faced  each  other,  pouring  out 
their  hatred  and  defiance  while  those  other  spirits,  like  the 
chorus  of  a  Greek  tragedy,  came  and  went  and  amused 
themselves  devising  fresh  means  to  torment  the  chained 
man  whose  strong  will  kept  them  at  bay. 

And  away  in  the  bright  spheres  mourned  the  poor 
wife,  striving  and  hoping  till  the  time  should  come  when 
her  influence  would  be  felt  even  in  this  awful  place,  when 
her  love  and  her  unceasing  prayers  should  reach  the  soul 
of  her  husband  and  soften  it,  that  he  might  relent  m  his 
bitter  purpose  and  turn  from  his  revenge.  It  was  her 
prayers  which  had  drawn  me  to  this  dungeon,  and  it  was 
her  soul  which  spoke  to  mine,  telling  me  all  the  sad  cruel 
story,  and  pleading  with  me  to  carry  to  her  unhappy  hus- 
band the  knowledge  that  she  lived  only  in  thoughts  of 
him,  only  in  the  hope  that  he  would  be  drawn  by  her  love 
to  the  upper  spheres  to  join  her  in  peace  and  happiness  at 
last.  With  this  vision  strong  upon  me,  I  drew  near  the 
sullen  man  who  was  growing  tired  of  his  revenge,  and 
whose  heart  was  full  of  longing  for  the  wife  he  loved  so 
passionately. 

I  touched  him  upon  the  shoulder  and  said:  "Friend, 
I  know  why  you  are  here,  and  all  the  cruel  story  of  your 
wrongs,  and  I  am  sent  from  her  you  love  to  tell  you  that 
in  the  bright  land  above  she  awaits  you.  wearying  that  you 
do  not  come  and  marveling  that  you  can  find  revenge 
more  sweet  than  her  caresses.  She  bids  me  tell  you  that 
you  chain  yourself  here  when  you  might  be  free." 

The  spirit  started  as  I  spoke,  then  turning  to  me 
grasped  my  arm  and  gazed  long  and  earnestly  into  my 
face  as  though  to  read  there  whether  1  spoke  truly  or 
falsely.  Then  he  sighed  as  lie  drew  back,  saying:  "Who 
are  you  and  why  do  you  come  here?  You  are  like  none 
of  those  who  belong  to  this  awful  place,  and  your  words 


148     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

arc  words  of  hope,  vet  how  can  there  be  hope  for  the 
soul  in  Hell?" 

"There  is  hope  even  here;  for  hope  is  eternal  and  I  rod 
in  his  mercy  shuts  none  out  from  it,  whatever  man  in  his 
earth-distorted  image  of  the  divine  teachings  may  do.  I 
am  sent  to  give  hope  to  you  and  to  others  who  are,  like 
you.  in  sorrow  for  the  past,  and  if  you  will  but  come  with 
me.  I  can  show  you  how  to  reach  the  Better  Land."' 

I  saw  that  he  hesitated,  and  a  bitter  straggle  went 
on  in  his  heart,  for  he  knew  that  it  was  his  presence  which 
kept  his  enemy  a  prisoner,  that  were  he  to  go  the  other 
would  be  free  to  wander  through  this  Dark  Land,  and 
even  yet  he  could  hardly  let  him  go.  Then  I  spoke  again 
of  his  wife;  his  child;  would  he  not  rather  go  to  them? 
The  strong  passionate  man  broke  down  as  he  thought  of 
those  loved  ones,  and  burying  his  face  in  his  hands  wept 
bitter  tears.  I  put  my  arm  through  his  and  led  him, 
unresisting,  out  of  the  prison  and  out  of  the  city.  Here 
we  found  kind  spirit  friends  were  awaiting  the  poor  man, 
and  with  them  I  left  him  that  they  might  bear  him  to  a 
bright  land  where  he  would  see  his  wife  from  time  to 
time,  till  he  worked  himself  up  to  the  level  of  her  sphere, 
where  they  would  be  united  forever  in  a  happiness  more 
perfect  than  coitld  ever  have  been  their  lot  on  earth. 

I  did  not  return  to  the  city,  for  I  felt  my  work  there 
was  done,  and  so  wandered  on  in  search  of  fresh  fields  of 
usefulness.  In  the  middle  of  a  dark  lonely  plain  I  came 
upon  a  solitary  hut,  in  which  I  found  a  man  lying  on  some 
wisps  of  dirty  straw,  unable  to  move  and  to  all  appearance 
dying. 

He  told  me  that  in  his  earth  life  he  had  thus  aban- 
doned and  left  to  die  a  sick  comrade,  whom  he  had  robbed 
of  the  gold  for  which  they  had  both  risked  their  lives,  and 
that  now  he  also  was  dead  he  found  himself  lying  in  the 
same  helpless  deserted  way. 

I  asked  him  if  he  would  not  wish  to  get  up  and  go 
and  do  something  to  help  others  and  thus  atone  for  the 


A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     149 

murder  of  his  friend,  because  if  so  I  thought  I  could 
help  him. 

He  thought  he  would  like  to  get  up  certainly.  He 
was  sick  of  this  hole,  but  he  did  not  see  why  he  should 
work  at  anything  or  bother  about  other  people.  He 
would  rather  look  for  the  money  he  had  buried,  and  spend 
that.  Here  his  cunning  eyes  glanced  furtively  at  me  to 
see  what  I  thought  of  his  money  and  if  I  was  likely  to 
try  to  find  it. 

I  suggested  to  him  that  he  ought  rather  to  think  of 
trying  to  find  the  friend  he  had  murdered  and  make 
reparation  to  him.  But  he  wouldn't  hear  of  that,  and  got 
quite  angry,  said  he  was  not  sorry  he  had  killed  his  friend, 
and  only  sorry  he  was  here.  He  thought  I  would  have 
helped  him  to  get  away.  I  tried  to  talk  to  this  man  and 
make  him  see  how  he  really  might  better  his  position  and 
undo  the  wrong  he  had  done,  but  it  was  no  use,  his  only 
idea  was  that  once  given  the  use  of  his  limbs  again  he 
could  go  and  rob  or  kill  some  one  else.  So  at  last  I  left 
him  where  he  lay,  and  as  I  went  out  his  feeble  hand 
picked  up  a  stone  and  flung  it  after  me. 

"What/'  I  asked  mentallv,  "will  become  of  this 
man?" 

I  was  answered:  "He  has  just  come  from  earth  after 
dying  a  violent  death,  and  his  spirit  is  weak,  but  ere  long 
he  will  grow  strong,  and  then  he  will  go  forth  and  join 
other  marauders  like  himself  who  go  about  in  bands,  and 
add  another  horror  to  this  place.  After  the  lapse  of  many 
years — it  may  even  be  centuries — the  desire  for  better 
things  will  awake,  and  he  will  begin  to  progress,  but  very 
slowly,  for  the  soul  which  has  been  in  chains  so  long  and 
is  so  poorly  developed,  so  degraded  as  in  this  man,  often 
takes  cycles  of  time  to  develop  its  dormant  powers." 

After  I  had  wandered  for  some  time  over  this  dreary 
desolate  plain  I  felt  so  tired,  weary  of  heart,  that  I  sat 
down,  and  began  musing  upon  what  I  had  seen  in  this 
awful  sphere.  The  sight  of  so  much  evil  and  suffering 
had  depressed  me,  the  awful  darkness  and  heavy  murky 
clouds  oppressed  my  soul  that  ever  had  loved  the  sunshine 


150     A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

and  the  ligtl  as  !  fancy  only  we  of  the  Southern  nations 
love  it.  And  then  I  wearied.  Ah!  how  I  wearied  and 
longed  for  nelws  from  her  whom  T  had  left  on  earth.  No 
word  had  reached  me  as  yet  from  my  friends —  no  news  of 
my  beloved.  I  knew  not  how  long  I  had  been  in  this 
place  where  there  was  no  day  to  mark  the  time,  nothing 
luii  eternal  night  that  brooded  and  reigned  in  silence  over 
everything.  My  thoughts  were  full  of  my  beloved,  and  1^ 
prayed  earnestly,  that  she  might  be  kept  safe  on  earth  to 
gladden  my  eyes  when  the  time  of  probation  in  this  place 
should  be  over.  While  T  prayed  I  became  conscious  of  a 
.-nil  pale  light  suffused  around  me,  as  from  a  glowing  star, 
that  grew  and  grew  till  it  expanded  and  opened  out  into 
a  most  glorious  picture  framed  in  rays  of  light,  and  in  the 
centre  I  saw  my  darling,  her  eyes  looking  into  mine  and 
smiling  at  me,  her  sweet  lips  parted  as  though  speaking 
my  name;  then  she  seemed  to  raise  her  hand  and  touching 
her  lips  with  her  finger  tips,  threw  me  a  kiss.  So  shyly, 
so  prettily,  was  it  done  that  I  was  in  raptures,  and  rose  to 
return  her  that  kiss,  to  look  more  closely  at  her,  and  lo! 
the  vision  had  vanished  and  I  wTas  alone  on  the  dark  plain 
once  more.  But  no  longer  so  sad,  that  bright  vision  had 
cheered  me,  and  given  me  hope  and  courage  to  go  on  once 
more  and  hring  to  others  such  hope  as  cheered  myself. 

I  arose  and  went  on  again,  and  in  a  short  time  was 
overtaken  by  a  number  of  dark  and  most  repulsive-look- 
ing spirits;  they  wore  ragged  black  cloaks  and  seemed  to 
have  their  faces  concealed  by  black  masks  like  spectral 
highwaymen.  They  did  not  see  me,  and  I  had  found  that 
as  a  rule  the  dwellers  of  this  sphere  were  too  low  in  in- 
telligence and  spiritual  sight  to  be  able  to  see  anyone  from 
the  spheres  above  unless  brought  into  direct  contact  with 
them.  Curious  to  see  what  they  were  about,  I  drew  back 
and  followed  them  at  a  little  distance.  Presently  another 
party  of  dark  spirits  approached,  carrying  what  looked 
like  hags  with  some  sort  of  treasure.  Immediately  they 
were  attacked  by  the  first-comers.  They  had  no  weapons 
in  their  hands,  but  they  fought  like  wild  beasts  with  teeth 
and  claws,  their  linger  nails  being  like  the  claws  of  a  wild 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     151 

animal  or  a  vulture.  They  fastened  upon  each  other's 
throats  and  tore  them.  They  scratched  and  bit  like  tigers 
or  wolves,  till  one-half  at  least  were  left  lying  helpless 
upon  the  ground,  while  the  rest  rushed  off  with  the 
treasure  (which  to  me  seemed  only  lumps  of  hard  stone). 

When  all  who  were  able  to  move  had  gone,  I  drew 
near  the  poor  splits  lying  moaning  on  the  ground  to  see 
if  I  could  help  any  of  them.  But  it  seemed  to  be  no  use 
doing  so;  they  only  tried  to  turn  upon  me  and  tear  me  in 
pieces.  They  were  more  like  savage  beasts  than  men, 
even  their  bodies  were  bent  like  a  beast's,  the  arms  long 
like  an  ape's,  the  hands  hard,  and  the  fingers  and  nails 
like  claws,  and  they  half  walked  and  half  crawled  on  all- 
fours.  The  faces  could  scarcely  be  called  human;  the 
very  features  had  become  bestial,  while  they  lay  snarling 
and  showing  their  teeth  like  wolves.  I  thought  of  the 
strange  wild  tales  I  had  read  of  men  changing  into 
animals,  and  I  felt  I  could  almost  have  believed  these  were 
such  creatures.  In  their  horrible  glaring  eyes  there  was 
an  expression  of  calculation  and  cunning  which  was  cer- 
tainly human,  and  the  motions  of  their  hands  were  not 
like  those  of  an  animal;  moreover  they  had  speech  and 
were  mingling  their  howls  and  groans  with  oaths  and 
curses  and  foul  language  unknown  to  animals. 

"Are  there  souls  even  here?"  I  asked. 

Again  came  the  answer:  "Yes,  even  here.  Lost, 
degraded,  dragged  down  and  smothered,  till  almost  all 
trace  is  lost,  yet  even  here  there  are  the  germs  of  souls. 
These  men  were  pirates  of  the  Spanish  main,  highway- 
men, freebooters,  slave  dealers,  and  kidnappers  of  men. 
They  have  so  brutalized  themselves  that  almost  all  trace 
of  the  human  is  merged  in  the  wild  animal.  Their  in- 
stincts were  those  of  savage  beasts;  now  they  live  like 
beasts  and  fight  like  them." 

"And  for  them  is  there  still  hope,  and  can  anyone 
help  them?"  I  asked. 

"Even  for  these  there  is  hope,  though  many  will  not 
avail  themselves  of  it  for  ages  yet  to  come.  Yet  here  and 
there  are  others  who  even  now  can  be  helped." 


l.~>?     A  WAN  Did  IKK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

I  turned,  and  at  my  feet  lay  a  man  who  had  dragged 
himself  to  me  with  great  difficulty  and  was  now  too  ex- 
hausted for  further  effort.  He  was  less  horrible  to  look 
Ujion  than  the  others,  and  in  his  distorted  lace  there  were 
yet  traces  of  better  things.  1  hent  over  him  and  heard 
his  lips  murmur:  "Water!  Water  for  any  sake!  Give 
me  water  for  I  am  consumed  with  a  living  fire." 

I  had  no  water  to  give  him  and  knew  not  where  to 
get  any  in  this  land,  hut  I  gave  him  a  few  drops  of  the 
essence  I  had  brought  from  the  Land  of  Dawn  for  myself. 
The  effect  upon  him  was  like  magic.  It  was  an  elixir. 
He  sat  up  and  stared  at  me  and  said: 

"You  must  he  a  magician.  That  has  cooled  me  and 
put  out  the  fire  that  has  hurned  within  me  for  years.  I 
have  been  filled  with  a  living  fire  of  thirst  ever  since  I 
came  to  this  Hell." 

I  had  now  drawn  him  away  from  the  others,  and 
began  to  make  passes  over  his  body,  and  as  I  did  so  his 
'sufferings  ceased  and  he  grew  quiet  and  restful.  I  was 
standing  by  him  wandering  wdiat  to  do  next,  whether  to 
speak  or  to  go  away  and  leave  him  to  himself,  when  he 
caught  my  hand  and  kissed  it  passionately. 

"Oh!  friend,  how  am  I  to  thank  you?  What  shall  I 
call  you  who  have  come  to  give  me  relief  after  all  these 
years  of  suffering?" 

"If  you  are  thus  grateful  to  me,  would  you  not  wish 
to  earn  the  gratitude  of  others  by  helping  them  ?  Shall  I 
show  you  how  you  could?" 

"Yes !  Oh !  yes,  most  gladly,  if  only  you  will  take  me 
with  you,  good  friend." 

"Well,  then,  let  me  help  you  up,  and  if  you  are  able 
we  had  better  leave  this  spot  as  soon  as  we  can,"  said  I, 
and  together  we  set  forth  to  see  what  we  could  do. 

My  companion  told  me  he  had  been  a  pirate  and  in 
the  slave  trade.  He  had  been  mate  of  a  ship  and  was 
killed  in  a  fight,  and  had  awakened  to  find  himself  and 
others  of  the  crew  in  this  dark  place.  How  long  he  had 
been  there  he  had  no  idea,  but  it  seemed  like  eternity. 


A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     153 

He  and  other  spirits  like  him  went  about  in  bands  and 
were  always  fighting.  When  they  did  not  meet  another 
party  to  tight  they  fought  amongst  themselves;  the  thirst 
for  righting  was  the  only  excitement  they  could  get  in  this 
horrible  place  where  there  was  never  any  drink  to  he  got 
which  could  quench  the  awful  burning  thirst  which  con- 
sumed them  all;  what  they  drank  only  seemed  to  make 
them  a  thousand  times  worse,  and  was  like  pouring  living 
fire  down  their  throats.  Then  lie  said:  "You  never  could 
die,  no  matter  what  you  suffered;  that  was  the  awful  curse 
of  the  thing,  you  had  got  beyond  death,  and  it  was  no  use 
trying  to  kill  yourself  or  get  others  to  kill  you,  there  was 
no  such  escape  from  suffering. 

"We  are  like  a  lot  of  hungry  wolves,"  he  said,  '"for 
want  of  anyone  to  attack  us  we  used  to  fall  upon  each 
other  and  fight  till  we  were  exhausted,  and  then  we  would 
lie  moaning  and  suffering  till  we  recovered  enough  to  go 
forth  again  and  attack  someone  else.  I  have  heen  long- 
ing for  any  means  of  escape.  I  have  almost  got  to  praying 
for  it  at  last.  I  felt  I  would  do  anything  if  God  would 
only  forgive  me  and  let  me  have  another  chance;  and 
when  I  saw  you  standing  near  me  I  thought  perhaps  you 
were  an  angel  sent  down  to  me  after  all.  Only  you've  got 
no  wings  nor  anything  of  that  sort,  as  they  paint  'em  in 
pictures.  But  then  pictures  don't  give  you  much  idea  of 
this  place,  and  if  they  are  wrong  about  one  place  why  not 
about  the  other?" 

I  laughed  at  him:  yes,  even  in  that  place  of  sorrow  I 
laughed,  my  heart  felt  so  much  lightened  to  find  myself 
of  so  much  use.  And  then  I  told  him  who  I  was  and  how 
I  came  to  be  there,  and  he  said  if  I  wanted  to  help  people 
there  were  some  dismal  swamps  near  where  a  great  many 
unhappy  spirits  were  imprisoned,  and  he  could  take  me  to 
them  and  help  a  bit  himself  he  thought.  He  seemed 
afraid  to  let  me  go  out  of  his  sight  lest  I  should  disappear 
and  leave  him  alone  again.  I  felt  quite  attracted  to  this 
man  because  he  seemed  so  very  grateful  and  I  was  also 
glad  of  companionship  of  any  sort  (except  that  of  those 
most  repulsive  beings  who  seemed  the  majority  of  the 


i:.l     A  WANbEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

dwellers  here)  for  I  felt  lonely  and  somewhat  desolate  in 
this  far-oflE  dismal  country. 

The  intense  darkness,  the  horrihle  atmosphere  of 
thick  fog,  made  it  almost  Impossible  to  see  far  in  any 
direction,  so  that  we  reached  the  land  of  swamps  heforc  I 
was  aware  of  it  excepl  for  feeling  a  cold,  damp,  offensive 
air  which  blew  in  our  faces.  Then  I  saw  looming  heforc 
me  a  great  sea  of  liquid  mud,  black,  fetid  and  stagnant,  a 
thick  slime  of  oily  blackness  floating  on  the  top.  Here 
and  there  monstrous  reptiles,  with  huge  inflated  bodies 
and  projecting  eyes  were  wallowing.  Great  hats,  with 
almost  human  faces  like  vampires,  hovered  over  it,  while 
black  and  grey  smoke  wreaths  of  noisome  vapor  rose  from 
its  decaying  surface,  and  hung  over  it  in  weird  fantastic 
phantom  shapes  that  shifted  and  changed  ever  and  anon 
into  fresh  forms  of  ugliness — now  waving  aloft  wild  arms 
and  shaking  nodding,  gihhering  heads,  which  seemed 
^almost  endowed  with  sense  and  speech — then  melting  into 
mist  again  to  form  into  some  new  creature  of  repulsive 
horror. 

On  the  shores  of  this  great  foul  sea  were  innumerable 
crawling  slimy  creatures  of  hideous  shape  and  gigantic 
size  that  lay  sprawling  on  their  hacks  or  plunged  into  that 
horrid  sea.  I  shuddered  as  I  looked  upon  it  and  was 
about  to  ask  if  there  could  indeed  be  lost  souls  struggling 
in  that  filthy  slime,  when  my  ears  heard  a  chorus  of  wail- 
ing cries  and  calls  for  help  coming  from  the  darkness 
before  me,  that  touched  my  heart  with  their  mournful 
hopelessness,  and  my  eyes,  growing  more  accustomed  to 
the  mist,  distinguished  here  and  there  struggling  human 
forms  wading  up  to  their  armpits  in  the  mud.  I  called  to 
them  and  told  them  to  try  and  walk  towards  me,  for  I  was 
on  the  shore,  hut  they  either  could  not  see  or  could  not 
hear  me  for  they  took  no  notice,  and  my  companion  said 
he  believed  they  were  both  deaf  and  blind  to  everything 
but  their  immediate  surroundings.  lie  had  been  in  the 
sea  of  foul  mud  himself  for  a  time,  hut  had  managed  to 
struggle  out,  though  he  had  understood  that  most  were 
unable  to  do  so  without  help  from  another,  and  that  some 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     155 

went  on  stumbling  about  in  it  for  years.  Again  we  heard 
those  pitiful  cries,  and  one  sounded  so  near  us  that  I 
thought  of  plunging  in  myself  and  trying  to  drag  the 
wretched  spirit  out,  but  faugh!  it  was  too  horrible,  too 
disgusting.  I  recoiled  in  horror  at  the  thought.  And 
then  again  that  despairing  cry  smote  upon  my  ears  and 
made  me  feel  I  must  venture  it.  So  in  I  went,  trying  my 
best  to  stifle  my  sense  of  disgust,  and,  guided  by  the  cries, 
soon  reached  the  man,  the  great  phantoms  of  the  mist 
wavering  and  swooping  and  rushing  overhead  as  I  did  so. 
He  was  up  to  his  neck  in  the  mud  and  seemed  sinking 
lower  when  I  found  him,  and  it  seemed  impossible  for  me 
alone  to  draw  him  out,  so  I  called  to  the  pirate  spirit  to 
come  and  help  me,  but  he  was  nowhere  to  be  seen.  Think- 
ing be  had  only  led  me  into  a  trap  and  deserted  me.  I  was 
about  to  turn  and  struggle  out  again,  when  the  unfortu- 
nate spirit  besought  me  so  pitifully  not  to  abandon  him 
that  I  made  another  great  effort  and  succeeded  in  drag- 
ping  him  a  few  yards  and  drawing  his  feet  out  of  a  trap  of 
weeds  at  the  bottom  in  which  they  appeared  to  be  caught. 
Then,  somehow,  I  half  dragged,  half  supported  him  till 
we  reached  the  shore  where  the  unfortunate  spirit  sank 
down  in  unconsciousness.  I  was  a  good  deal  exhausted 
also  and  sat  down  beside  him  to  rest.  I  looked  round  for 
my  pirate  friend,  and  beheld  him  wallowing  about  in  the 
sea  at  some  distance  and  evidently  bringing  out  someone 
along  with  him.  Even  in  the  midst  of  my  awful  sur- 
roundings I  could  not  help  feeling  a  certain  sense  of 
amusement  in  looking  at  him,  be  made  such  frantic  and 
exaggerated  efforts  to  haul  along  the  unlucky  spirit,  and 
was  so  shouting  and  going  on  that  it  was  calculated  to 
alarm  anyone  who  was  timid,  and  I  did  not  wonder  to 
hear  the  poor  spirit  almost  imploring  him  not  to  be  so 
energetic,  to  take  it  a  little  slower,  and  to  give  him  time 
to  follow.  I  went  over  to  them,  and  the  poor  rescued  one 
being  now  near  the  shore  I  helped  to  get  him  out  and  to 
let  him  rest  beside  the  other  one. 

The  pirate  spirit  seemed  greatly  delighted  with  his 
successful  efforts  and  very  proud  of  himself,  and  was  quite 


156    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

ready  to  s<  i  oft  again,  so  I  sent  him  after  Bomeone  else 
whom  we  heard  calling,  and  was  attending  to  the  other  two 
when  I  again  heard  most  pitiful  wailingsnot  far  from  me, 
though  I  could  sec  no  one  at  first,  then  a  faint,  tiny  speck 
of  light  like  a  will-o'-the-wisp  glimmered  in  the  darkness 
of  that  disgusting  swamp,  and  by  its  light  I  saw  someone 
moving  about  and  calling  for  aid,  so,  not  very  willingly,  I 
confess,  I  went  into  the  mud  again.  When  I  reached  the 
man  I  found  he  had  a  woman  with  him  whom  he  was  sup- 
porting and  trying  to  encourage,  and.  with  considerable 
trouble  I  got  them  both  out  and  found  the  pirate  spirit 
had  also  arrived  with  his  rescued  one. 

Truly  a  strange  group  we  must  have  made  on  the 
shores  of  that  slimy  sea.  which  I  learned  afterwards  was 
the  spiritual  creation  of  all  the  disgusting  thoughts,  all 
the  impure  desires  of  the  lives  of  men  on  earth,  attracted 
and  collected  into  this  great  swamp  of  foulness.  Those 
-spirits  who  were  thus  wallowing  in  it  had  reveled  in  such 
low  abominations  in  their  earth  lives  and  had  continued 
to  enjoy  such  pleasures  after  death  through  the  medium- 
ship  of  mortal  men  and  women,  till  at  last  even  the  earth 
plane  had  become  too  high  for  them  by  reason  of  their 
own  exceeding  vileness,  and  they  had  been  drawn  down 
by  the  force  of  attraction  into  this  horrible  sink  of  corrup- 
tion to  wander  in  it  till  the  very  disgust  of  themselves 
should  work  a  cure. 

One  man  I  had  rescued  had  been  one  of  the  cele- 
brated wits  of  Charles  the  Second's  court,  and  after  his 
death  had  long  haunted  the  earth  plane,  sinking,  however, 
lower  and  lower  till  he  had  sunk  into  this  sea  at  last,  the 
weeds  of  his  pride  and  arrogance  forming  chains  in  which 
his  feet  were  so  entangled  that  he  could  not  move  till  I 
released  him.  Another  man  had  been  a  celebrated 
dramatist  of  the  reign  of  the  early  Georges.  While  the 
man  and  woman  had  belonged  to  the  court  of  Louis  the 
Fifteenth  and  had  been  drawn  together  to  this  place. 
Those  rescued  by  the  pirate  were  somewhat  similar  in 
their  histories. 

I  had  been  somewhat  troubled  at  first  as  to  how  I  was 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     157 

going  to  free  myself  from  the  mud  of  that  horrible  sea, 
but  I  now  suddenly  saw  a  small  clear  fountain  of  pure 
water  spring  up  near  to  us  as  if  by  magic,  and  in  its  fresh 
stream  we  soon  washed  all  traces  of  the  mud  away. 

I  now  advised  those  whom  we  had  rescued  to  try 
what  they  could  do  to  help  others  in  this  land  of  darkness 
as  a  return  for  the  help  given  to  themselves,  and  having 
given  them  what  advice  and  help  I  could  I  started  once 
more  upon  my  pilgrimage.  The  pirate,  however,  seemed 
so  very  unwilling  to  part  from  me  that  we  two  set  forth 
together  once  more. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  all  whom  we  sought  to 
help  in  our  wanderings.  Were  I  to  do  so  this  narrative 
would  fill  volumes  and  probably  only  weary  my  readers, 
so  I  shall  pass  over  what  seemed  to  me  like  weeks  of 
earthly  time,  as  nearly  as  I  am  able  to  reckon  it,  and  will 
describe  our  arrival  at  a  vast  range  of  mountains  whose 
bleak  summits  towered  into  the  night  sky  overhead.  We 
were  both  somewhat  discouraged  with  the  results  of  our 
efforts  to  help  people.  Here  and  there  we  had  found  a 
few  who  were  willing  to  listen  and  to  be  helped,  but  as  a 
rule  our  attempts  had  been  met  with  scorn  and  derision, 
while  not  a  few  had  even  attacked  us  for  interfering  with 
them,  and  we  had  some  trouble  to  save  ourselves  from 
injury. 

Our  last  attempt  had  been  with  a  man  and  woman  of 
most  repulsive  appearance  who  were  fighting  at  the  door 
of  a  wretched  hovel.  The  man  was  beating  her  so  terribly 
I  could  not  but  interfere  to  stop  him.  Whereupon  they 
both  set  on  me  at  once,  the  woman  spirit  doing  her  best 
to  scratch  my  eyes  out,  and  I  was  glad  to  have  the  pirate 
come  to  my  assistance,  for,  truth  to  tell,  the  combined 
attack  had  made  me  lose  my  temper,  and  by  doing  so  I 
put  myself  for  the  moment  on  their  level,  and  so  was  de- 
prived of  the  protection  afforded  me  by  my  superior 
spiritual  development. 

These  two  had  been  guilty  of  a  most  cruel  and  brutal 


158     A  WANDEKEB  IX  THE  SIMIHT  LANDS. 

murder  of  an  old  man  (the  husband  of  the  woman)  for  the 
sake  of  his  money:  and  they  iiad  been  hanged  for  the 
eiime,  their  mutual  guilt  forming  a  bond  between  them  so 
strong  that  they  had  heen  drawn  down  together  and  were 
unable  to  separate  in  spite  of  the  bitter  hatred  they  now 
felt  for  each  other.  Each  felt  the  other  to  he  the  cause  of 
their  being  in  this  place,  and  each  felt  the  other  more 
guilty  than  themselves,  and  it  had  been  their  eagerness 
each  to  betray  the  other  which  had  helped  to  hang  both. 
Now  they  seemed  simply  to  exist  in  order  to  fight  to- 
gether, and  I  can  fancy  no  punishment  more  awful  than 
theirs  must  have  been,  thus  linked  together  in  hate. 

In  their  present  state  of  mind  it  was  not  possible  to 
help  them  in  any  way. 

Shortly  after  leaving  this  interesting  couple  we 
found  ourselves  at  the  foot  of  the  great  dark  mountains, 
and  by  the  aid  of  a  curious  pale  phosphorescent  glow 
•which  hung  in  patches  over  them  we  were  able  to  explore 
them  a  little.  There  were  no  regular  pathways,  and  the 
rocks  were  very  steep,  so  we  stumbled  up  as  best  we  might 
— for  I  should  explain  that  by  taking  on  a  certain  propor- 
tion of  the  conditions  of  this  low  sphere  I  had  lost  the 
power  to  rise  at  will  and  float,  which  was'  a  privilege  of 
those  who  had  reached  the  Land  of  Dawn.  After  a  toil- 
some ascent  of  one  of  the  lower  ranges  of  the  mountains 
we  began  to  tramp  along  the  crest  of  one,  faintly  lighted 
by  the  strange  gleaming  patches  of  phosphorescent  light, 
and  beheld  on  either  side  of  us  vast  deep  chasms  in  the 
rocks,  gloomy  precipices,  and  awful  looking  black  pits. 
From  some  of  these  came  wailing  cries  and  moans  and  oc- 
casionally prayers  for  help.  I  was  much  shocked  to  think 
there  were  spirits  down  in  such  depths  of  misery,  and  felt 
quite  at  a  loss  how  to  help  them,  when  my  companion, 
who  had  shown  a  most  remarkable  eagerness  to  second  all 
my  efforts  to  rescue  people,  suggested  that  we  should 
make  a  rope  from  some  of  the  great  rank,  withered-look- 
ing weeds  and  grass  that  grew  in  small  crevices  of  these 
otherwise  barren  rocks,  and  with  such  a  rope  I  could  lower 
him  down,  as  he  was  more  used  to  climbing  in  that  fash- 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     159 

ion  than  I,  and  thus  we  might  be  able  to  draw  up  some  of 
these  spirits  out  of  their  dreadful  position. 

This  was  a  good  idea,  so  we  set  to  work  and  soon  had 
a  rope  strong  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  my  friend,  for 
you  should  know  that  in  spiritual,  as  well  as  in  material 
things,  weight  is  a  matter  of  comparison,  and  the  materi- 
ality of  those  low  spheres  will  give  them  a  much  greater 
solidity  and  weight  than  belongs  to  a  spirit  sphere  more 
advanced,  and  though  to  your  material  eyes  of  earth  life 
my  pirate  friend  would  have  shown  neither  distinct  mate- 
rial form  nor  weight,  yet  a  very  small  development  of  your 
spiritual  faculties  would  have  enabled  yon  to  both  see  and 
%feel  his  presence,  though  a  spirit  the  next  degree  higher 
would  still  remain  invisible  to  you.  Thus  I  am  not  in 
error,  not  do  I  even  say  what  is  improbable,  when  I  thus 
speak  of  my  friend's  weight,  which  for  a  rope  made  of 
spiritual  grass  and  weeds  was  as  great  a  strain  as  would 
have  been  the  case  with  an  earthly  man  and  earth  mate- 
rials. Having  made  one  end  of  the  rope  fast  to  a  rock, 
the  spirit  descended  with  the  speed  and  sureness  acquired 
by  long  practice  as  a  sailor.  Once  there  he  soon  made  it 
fast  round  the  body  of  the  poor  helpless  one  whom  he 
found  lying  moaning  at  the  bottom.  Then  I  drew  up  the 
rope  and  the  spirit,  and  when  he  had  been  made  safe  I 
lowered  it  to  my  friend  and  drew  him  up,  and  having 
done  what  we  could  for  the  rescued  one  we  went  on  and 
helped  a  few  more  in  like  fashion. 

"When  we  had  pulled  out  as  many  as  we  could  find, 
a  most  strange  thing  happened.  The  phosphorescent 
light  died  out  and  left  us  in  utter  darkness,  while  a  mys- 
terious  voice  floating,  as  it  seemed,  in  the  air,  said,  "Go 
on  now,  your  work  here  is  done.  Those  whom  you  have 
rescued  were  caught  in  their  own  traps,  and  the  pitfalls 
that  they  made  for  others  had  received  themselves,  till 
that  time  when  repentance  and  a  desire  to  atone  should 
draw  rescuers  to  help  them  and  free  them  from  the  pris- 
ons they  had  themselves  made.  In  these  mountains  are 
many  spirits  imprisoned  who  may  not  yet  be  helped  out 
by  any,  for  they  would  only  be  a  danger  to  others  were 


160     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

they  tree,  and  the  ruin  ami  evil  they  would  shed  around 
make  their  longer  imprisonment  a  necessity.  Yet  are 
their  prisons  of  their  own  creating,  for  these  great  moun- 
tains of  misery  are  the  outcome  and  product  of  men's 
earthly  lives,  and  these  precipices  are  hut  the  spiritual 
counterparts  of  those  precipices  of  despair  over  which 
tiny  have  in  earthly  life  driven  their  unhappy  victims. 
Not  till  their  hearts  soften,  not  till  they  have  learned  to 
long  for  liherty  that  they  may  do  good  instead  of  evil,  will 
their  prisons  he  opened  and  they  be  drawn  forth  from  the 
living  death  in  which  their  own  frightful  cruelties  to 
others  have  entombed  them." 

The  voice  ceased,  and  alone  and  in  darkness  we 
groped  our  way  down  the  mountain  side  till  we  reached 
the  level  ground  once  more.  Those  awful  mysterious 
dark  valleys  of  eternal  night — those  towering  mountains 
of  selfishness  and  oppression — had  struck  such  a  chill  to 
jny  heart  that  I  was  glad  indeed  to  know  there  was  no  call 
of  duty  for  me  to  linger  longer  there. 

Our  wandering  now  brought  us  to  an  immense  forest, 
whose  weird  fantastic  trees  were  like  what  one  sees  in 
some  awful  nightmare.  The  leafless  branches  seemed  like 
living  arms  held  out  to  grasp  and  hold  the  hapless  wan- 
derer. The  long  snake-like  roots  stretched  out  like  twist- 
ing ropes  to  trip  him  up.  The  trunks  were  bare  and 
blackened  as  though  scorched  by  the  blasting  breath  of 
fire.  From  the  bark  a  thick  foul  slime  oozed  and  like 
powerful  wax  held  fast  any  hand  that  touched  it.  Great 
waving  shrouds  of  some  strange  dark  air  plant  clothed  the 
branches  like  a  pall,  and  helped  to  enfold  and  bewilder 
any  who  tried  to  penetrate  through  this  ghostly  forest. 
Faint  muffled  cries  as  of  those  who  are  exhausted  and  half 
smothered  came  from  this  awful  wood,  and  here  and  there 
we  could  see  the  imprisoned  souls  held  captive  in  the 
embrace  of  these  extraordinary  prisons,  struggling  to  get 
free,  yet  unable  to  move  one  single  step. 

"How/'  I  wondered,  "shall  we  help  these?"  some 
were  caught  bv  the  foot — a  twisted  root  holding  them  as 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     161 

in  a  vice.  Another's  hand  was  glued  to  the  trunk  of  a 
tree.  Another  was  enveloped  in  a  shroud  of  the  black 
moss,  while  yet  another's  head  and  shoulders  were  held 
fast  by  a  couple  of  branches  which  had  closed  upon  them. 
Wild  ferocious  looking  beasts  prowled  round  them,  and 
huge  vultures  flapped  their  wings  overhead,  yet  seemed 
unable  to  touch  any  of  the  prisoners,  though  they  came 
so  near. 

"Who  were  those  men  and  women?"  I  asked. 

"They  are  those,"  was  the  reply,  "who  viewed  with 
delight  the  sufferings  of  others,  those  who  gave  their 
fellow  men  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  wild  beasts  that  they 
might  enjoy  the  excitement  of  their  sufferings.  They  are 
all  those  who  for  no  reason  but  the  lust  of  cruelty  have, 
in  many  different  ways  and  in  many  different  ages,  tor- 
tured and  entrapped  and  killed  those  who  were  more  help- 
less than  themselves,  and  for  all  now  here  release  will  only 
come  when  they  have  learned  the  lesson  of  mercy  and 
pity  for  others  and  the  desire  to  save  some  one  else  from 
suffering,  even  at  the  expense  of  suffering  to  themselves. 
Then  will  these  bands  and  fetters  which  hold  them  be 
loosed,  then  they  will  be  free  to  go  forth  and  work  out 
their  atonement.  Till  then  no  one  else  can  help  them — 
none  can  release  them.  Their  release  must  be  effected  by 
themselves  through  their  own  more  merciful  desires  and 
aspirations.  If  you  will  but  recall  the  history  of  your 
earth  and  think  how  men  in  all  ages  have  enslaved,  op- 
pressed and  tortured  their  fellow  men  in  every  country 
of  that  globe,  you  will  not  wonder  that  this  vast  forest 
should  be  well  peopled.  It  was  deemed  right  that  for 
your  own  instruction  you  should  see  this  fearful  place,  but 
as  none  of  those  you  see  and  pity  have  so  far  changed  their 
hearts  that  you  can  give  them  aid,  you  will  now  pass  on 
to  another  region  where  you  can  do  more  good." 

After  leaving  the  Forest  of  Desolation  we  hag!  not 
gone  far  upon  our  road  when  to  my  joy  I  saw  my  friend 
Hassein  approaching.  Mindful,  however,  of  Ahrinziman's 
warning  I  gave  him  the  sign  agreed  upon  and  received  the 


L62     A  WANBERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

countersign  in  return.  lie  had  come,  he  said,  with  a 
message  from  my  father  and  from  my  heloved  who  had 
sen!  me  what  were  indeed  sweet  words  of  love  and  en- 
couragement. Hassein  told  me  that  my  mission  would 
now  lie  amongst  those  great  masses  of  spirits  whose  evil 
propensities  were  equalled  only  by  their  intellectual  pow- 
ers, and  their  ingenuity  in  works  of  evil.  'They  are 
those,"  said  he,  "who  were  rulers  of  men  and  kings  of 
intellect  in  all  branches,  hut  who  have  perverted  and 
abused  the  powers  with  which  they  were  endowed  till  they 
have  made  of  them  a  curse  and  not  a  blessing;  With 
most  of  them  you  will  have  to  guard  yourself  at  all  points 
against  the  allurements  they  will  hold  out  to  tempt  you, 
and  the  treachery  of  every  kind  they  will  practice  on  your- 
self. Yet  amongst  them  there  are  a  few  whom  you  are 
sent  to  succor  and  whom  your  own  instinct  and  events 
will  point  out  as  those  to  whom  your  words  will  he 
welcome  and  your  aid  valuable.  I  shall  not  in  all  proba- 
bility bring  you  messages  again,  but  some  other  may  be 
sent  to  do  so,  and  you  must,  above  all  things  and  before 
all  things,  remember  to  distrust  any  who  come  to  you  and 
cannot  'give  the  sign  and  symbol  I  have  given.  You  are 
now  in  reality  about  to  invade  the  enemies'  camp,  and 
you  will  find  that  your  errand  is  known  to  them  and  re- 
sented, whatever  it  may  suit  them  to  pretend.  Beware, 
then,  of  all  their  false  promises,  and  when  they  seem 
most  friendly  distrust  them  most." 

I  promised  to  remember  and  heed  his  warning,  and 
be  added  that  it  was  necessary  I  should  part  for  a  time 
from  my  faithful  companion,  the  pirate,  as  he  could  not 
safely  accompany  me  in  those  scenes  to  which  my  path 
would  now  lead,  but  he  promised  he  would  place  him 
under  the  care  of  one  who  could  and  would  help  him  to 
leave  that  dark  country  soon. 

After  giving  him  loving  and  hopeful  messages  to  my 
beloved  and  my  father,  which  he  promised  to  deliver  to 
them,  we  parted,  and  I  set  forth  in  the  direction  pointed 
out,  greatly  cheered  and  comforted  by  the  good  news  and 
loving  messages  I  had  received. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     163 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

I  had  proceeded  but  a  short  distance  when  I  saw 
Faithful  Friend  sitting  by  the  wayside,  evidently  waiting 
for  me.  I  was  truly  glad  to  see  him  again  and  to  have 
further  guidance  from  him.  We  greeted  one  another 
with  much  cordiality.  He  was  now,  he  said,  appointed  to 
accompany  me  during  a  part  of  my  present  journey,  and 
he  told  me  of  many  strange  circumstances  which  had 
befallen  him  and  which  I  am  sure  would  prove  very  inter- 
esting, but  as  they  do  not  properly  belong  to  my  own 
Wanderings  I  will  not  give  any  account  of  them  here. 

Faithful  Friend  took  me  to  a  tall  tower,  from  the  top 
of  which  we  could  see  all  over  the  city  we  were  about  to 
visit — this  view  of  it  beforehand  being,  he  said,  likely  to 
prove  both  useful  and  interesting  to  me.  We  were,  as  I 
have  said,  surrounded  always  by  this  dark  midnight  sky 
and  heavy  smoky  atmosphere  somewhat  like  a  black  fog 
yet  different  anct  not  quite  so  dense,  since  it  was  possible 
to  see  through  it.  Here  and  there  this  darkness  was 
lighted  up  in  some  places  by  the  strange  phosphorescent 
light  I  have  described,  and  elsewhere  by  the  lurid  flames 
kindled  from  the  fierce  passions  of  the  spiritual  inhabi- 
tants. 

When  we  had  climbed  to  the  top  of  the  tall  tower, 
which  appeared  to  be  built  of  black  rocks,  we  saw  lying 
below  us  a  wide  stretch  of  dark  country.  Heavy  night 
clouds  hung  upon  the  horizon,  and  near  to  us  lay  the 
great  city,  a  strange  mixture  of  magnificence  and  ruin, 
such  as  characterized  all  the  cities  I  saw  in  this  dark  land. 


16  1     A  W  A  \  DEB  EB  I N  rI'I  I  B  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

A  treeless  blackened  waste  surrounded  it  and  great  masses 
of  dark  blood-tinged  vapor  bung  brooding  over  this  great 
city  of  sorrow  and  crime.  Mighty  castles,  lofty  palaces, 
handsome  buildings, all  stamped  with  ruin  and  decay — all 
bleared  and  blotched  with  the  stains  of  the  sinful  lives 
lived  within  them.  Crumbling  into  decay,  yet  held 
together  by  the  magnetism  of  their  spiritual  inhabitants — 
buildings  that  would  last  while  the  links  woven  by  their 
spiritual  occupants'  earthly  lives  held  them  in  this  place, 
and  would  crumble  into  the  dust  of  decay  whenever  the 
soul's  repentance  should  sever  those  links  and  suffer  it  to 
wander  free;  crumble  into  decay,  however,  only  to  be  re- 
constructed by  another  sinful  soul  in  the  shape  into  which 
his  earthly  life  of  pleasure  should  form  it.  Here  there 
was  a  palace — there  beside  it  a  hovel.  Even  as  the  lives 
and  ambitions  of  the  indwelling  spirits  had  been  inter- 
woven and  blended  on  earth  so  were  their  dwellings  con- 
structed here  side  by  side. 

Have  you  ever  thought,  ye  who  dwell  yet  on  earth, 
how  the  associates  of  your  earthly  lives  may  become  those 
nf  your  spiritual?  How  the  ties  of  magnetism  which  are 
formed  on  earth  may  link  your  spirits  and  your  fates 
together  in  the  spirit  land  so  that  you  can  only  with  great 
difficulty  and  much  suffering  sever  them?  Thus  I  saw 
in  these  buildings  before  me  the  proud  patrician's  palace, 
built  of  his  ambitions  and  disfigured  by  his  crimes,  joined 
to  the  humble  abodes  of  his  slaves  and  his  parasites  and 
panderers  of  earth  which  had  been  as  surely  formed  by 
their  desires  and  disfigured  by  their  crimes,  and  between 
which  and  his  palace  there  were  the  same  links  of  spiritual 
magnetism  as  between  himself  and  those  who  had  been 
the  sharers  and  instruments  of  his  evil  ambitions.  He 
was  no  more  able  to  free  himself  from  them  and  their 
importunities  than  they  were  able  to  free  themselves  from 
his  tyranny,  till  a  higher  and  purer  desire  should  awaken 
in  the  souls  of  one  set  or  the  other  of  them  and  thus  raise 
them  above  their  present  level.  So  it  was  that  they  still 
repeated  over  again  their  lives  of  earth  in  hideous  mockery 
of  the  past,  impelled  thereto  by  that  past    itself,  their 


A  WAN0EBEE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     165 

memories  presenting  to  them  over  and  over  again  as  in  a 
moving  panorama  their  past  acts  and  the  actors,  so  that  hy 
no  plunge  into  wild  excess  in  that  dark  land  could  they 
escape  the  grinding  of  memory's  millstones,  till  at  length 
the  last  lust  of  sin  and  wickedness  should  be  ground  out 
of  their  souls. 

Over  this  great  spiritual  city  of  past  earth  lives  hung, 
as  I  have  said,  patches  of  light  of  a  dim  misty  appearance 
like  faintly  luminous  smoke,  steel  grey  in  color.  This,  I 
was  told,  was  the  light  thrown  off  from  the  powerful 
intellects  of  the  inhabitants  whose  souls  were  degraded 
but  not  undeveloped,  and  whose  intellects  were  of  a  high 
order  but  devoted  to  base  things,  so  that  the  true  soul 
light  was  wanting  and  this  strange  reflection  of  its  intel- 
lectual powers  alone  remained.  In  other  parts  of  the 
city  the  atmosphere  itself  seemed  on  fire.  Flames  hung 
in  the  air  and  flickered  from  place  to  place,  like  ghostly 
fires  whose  fuel  has  turned  to  ashes  ere  the  flames  have 
burned  out,  and  as  the  floating  phantom  flames  were  swept 
to  and  fro  by  the  currents  of  the  air  I  saw  groups  of  dark 
spirits  passing  up  and  down  the  streets  heedless,  or  per- 
haps unconscious,  of  these  spectral  flames  that  were 
thrown  into  the  atmosphere  by  themselves,  and  were  cre- 
ated by  their  own  fierce  passions  which  hung  around  them 
as  spiritual  flames. 

As  I  looked  and  gazed  upon  this  strange  city  of  dead 
and  ruined  souls,  a  strange  wave  of  feeling  swept  over  me, 
for  in  its  crumbling  walls,  its  disused  buildings,  I  could 
trace  a  resemblance  to  the  one  city  on  earth  with  which  I 
was  most  familiar  and  which  was  dear  to  my  heart  since 
I  had  been  one  of  her  sons,  and  I  called  aloud  to  my  com- 
panion to  ask  what  this  meant — what  was  this  vision  I 
beheld  before  me.  Was  it  the  past  or  the  future  or  the 
present  of  my  beloved  city? 

He  answered,  "It  is  all  three.  There  before  you  now 
are  the  buildings  and  the  spirits  of  its  past — such,  that  is. 
as  have  been  evil — and  there  among  them  are  buildings 
half  finished,  which  those  who  are  dwelling  there  now  are 
forming  for  themselves;  and  as  these  dwellings  of  the  past 


166     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

are,  bo  shall  these  half  finished  buildings  be  in  the  days  to 
come  when  each  who  builds  now  shall  have  completed  his 
or  her  lifework  of  sin  and  oppression.  Behold  and  look 
upon  it  well,  and  then  go  back  to  earth  a  messenger  of 
warning  to  sound  in  the  ears  of  your  countrymen  the 
doom  that  awaits  so  many.  If  thy  voice  shall  echo  in 
even  one  heart  and  arrest  the  building  of  but  one  of  these 
unfinished  houses,  you  shall  have  done  well  and  your  visit 
here  would  be  worth  all  that  it  may  cost  you.  Yet  that  is 
not  the  only  reason  for  your  coming.  For  you  and  me, 
oh!  my  friend,  there  is  work  even  in  this  city;  there  are 
souls  whom  we  can  save  from  their  darkened  lives,  who 
will  go  hack  to  earth  and  with  trumpet  tongues  proclaim 
in  the  ears  of  men  the  horrors  of  the  retribution  they  have 
known,  and  from  which  they  would  save  others. 

"Bethink  you  how  many  ages  have  passed  since  the 
world  was  young  and  how  much  improvement  there  has 
been  in  the  lives  and  thoughts  of  the  men  who  dwell  upon 
it,  and  shall  we  not  suppose  that  even  ordinary  reason 
might  admit  it  must  naturally  he  due  to  the  influence  of. 
those  who  have  returned  to  earth  to  warn  others  from  the 
precipice  over  which  themselves  had  fallen  in  all  the 
pride  and  glory  and  lust  of  sin.  Is  it  not  a  far  nobler 
Ideal  to  place  before  men — the  idea  that  God  sends  these 
his  children  (sinful  and  disobedient  once  if  you  will,  but 
repentant  now),  back  to  earth  as  ministering  spirits  to 
war  and  help  and  strengthen  others  who  struggle  yet  in 
the  unregenerated  sinfulness  of  their  lower  natures  rather 
than  believe  that  he  would  doom  any  to  the  hopeless,  help- 
less misery  of  eternal  punishment?  You  and  I  have  both 
been  sinners — beyond  pardon,  some  of  the  good  of  earth 
might  have  said — yet  we  have  found  mercy  in  our  God 
even  after  the  eleventh  hour,  and  shall  not  even  these  also 
know  hope?  If  they  have  sunk  lower  than  we,  shall  we 
therefore  in  our  little  minds  set  limits  to  the  heights  to 
which  they  may  yet  climb?  No!  perish  the  thought  that 
such  horrors  as  we  have  looked  upon  in  these  Hells  could 
be  eternal.  God  is  good  and  his  mercy  is  beyond  any 
man's  power  to  limit." 


A  WANDEEEE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     167 

We  descended  now  from  the  tower  and  entered  the 
city.  In  one  of  the  large  squares — with  whose  earthly 
counterpart  1  was  very  familiar — we  found  quite  a  large 
crowd  of  dark  spirits  assembled,  listening  to  some  sort  of 
proclamation.  Evidently  it  was  one  which  excited  their 
derision  and  anger  for  there  were  yells,  and  hoots,  and 
cries  resounding  on  all  sides,  and  as  I  drew  yet  more  near 
1  perceived  it  was  one  which  had  been  read  recently  in  the 
earthly  counterpart,  and  had  for  its  object  the  further 
liberation  and  advancement  of  the  people — an  object 
which,  down  here  in  this  stronghold  of  oppression  and 
tyranny,  only  provoked  a  desire  for  its  suppression  and 
these  dark  beings  around  me  were  vowing  themselves  to 
thwart  the  good  purpose  as  far  as  lay  in  their  power.  The 
more  men  were  oppressed  and  the  more  that  they  quar- 
reled and  fought  against  the  oppression  with  violence,  the 
stronger  were  these  beings  here  below  to  interfere  in  their 
affairs  and  to  stir  up  strife  and  fightings  among  them. 
The  more  men  became  free  and  enlightened  and  im- 
proved, the  less  chance  was  there  that  these  dark  spirits 
would  be  drawn  to  earth  by  the  kindling  of  kindred  pas- 
sions there  and  thus  be  enabled  to  mingle  with  and  con- 
trol men  for  their  own  evil  purposes.  These  dark  beings 
delight  in  war,  misery  and  bloodshed,  and  are  ever  eager 
to  return  to  earth  to  kindle  men's  fierce  cruel  passions 
afresh.  In  times  of  great  national  oppression  and  revolt 
when  the  heated  passions  of  men  are  inflamed  to  fever 
heat,  these  dwellers  of  the  depths  are  drawn  up  to  earth's 
surface  by  the  force  of  kindred  desires,  and  excite  and 
urge  on  revolutions,  which,  begun  at  first  from  motives 
that  are  high  and  pure  and  noble,  will  under  the  stress  of 
passion  and  the  instigation  of  these  dark  beings  from  the 
lower  sphere  become  at  last  mere  excuses  for  wild  butch- 
eries and  excesses  of  every  kind.  By  these  very  excesses 
a  reaction  is  created,  and  these  dark  demons  and  those 
whom  they  control  are  in  their  turn  swept  away  by  the 
higher  powers,  leaving  a  wide  track  of  ruin  and  suffering 
tn  mark  where  they  have  been.  Thus  in  these  lowest 
Hells  a  rich  harvest  is  reaped  of  unhappy  souls  who  have 


1G8     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

been  drawn  down  along  with  the  evil  spirits  that  tempted 
them. 

As  I  stood  watching  the  crowd  Faithful  Friend  drew 
my  attention  to  a  group  of  spirits  who  were  pointing  over 
at  us  and  evidently  meditated  addressing  us. 

"I  shall  go,"  said  he,  "for  a  few  moments  and  leave 
you  to  speak  with  them  alone.  It  will  be  better  to  do  so, 
for  they  may  recognize  me  as  having  been  here  before, 
and  I  would  wish  you  to  see  them  by  yourself.  I  shall 
not,  however,  be  far  away,  and  will  meet  you  again  later 
when  I  see  that  I  can  help  you  by  doing  so.  At  this 
moment  something  tells  me  to  leave  you  for  a  little." 

As  he  spoke  he  moved  away,  and  the  dark  spirits 
drew  near  to  me  with  every  gesture  of  friendliness.  I 
thought  it  as  well  to  respond  with  politeness,  though  in 
my  heart  I  felt  the  most  violent  repugnance  to  their  com- 
pany, they  were  so  repulsive  looking,  so  horrible  in  their 
wicked,  leering  ugliness. 

One  touched  me  on  the  shoulder,  and  as  I  turned  to 
him  with  a  dim  sense  of  having  seen  him  before  he 
laughed — a  wild  horrid  laugh — and  cried  out:  "I  hail 
thee,  friend — who  I  see  dost  not  so  well  remember  me  as 
I  do  thee,  though  it  was  upon  the  earth  plane  we  met 
before.  I,  as  well  as  others,  then  sought  hard  to  be  of 
service  to  thee,  only  thou  wouldst  have  none  of  our  help, 
and  played  us,  methinks,  but  a  scurvy  trick  instead. 
None  the  less  for  this,  we,  who  are  as  lambs,  didst  thou 
but  know  us,  have  forgiven  thee." 

Another  also  drew  near,  leering  in  my  face  with  a 
smile  perfectly  diabolical,  and  said:  "So  ho!  You  are 
here  after  all,  friend,  in  this  nice  land  with  us.  Then 
surely  you  must  have  done  something  to  merit  the  distinc- 
tion? Say  whom  you  have  killed  or  caused  to  be  killed, 
for  none  are  here  who  cannot  claim  at  least  one  slain  by 
them,  while  many  of  us  can  boast  of  a  procession  as  long 
as  the  ghosts  that  appeared  to  Macbeth,  and  others 
again — our  more  distinguished  citizens — count  their  slain 
by  hundreds.  Did  you  kill  that  one  after  all? — ha!  ha! 
ha!"  and  he  broke    into    such  a  wild  horrible  peal  of 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS..  169 

laughter  that  I  turned  to  fly  from  them — for  like  a  flash 
had  come  across  my  mind  the  memory  of  that  time  when 
I,  too,  could  have  been  almost  a  murderer,  and  I  recog- 
nized in  these  horrible  beings  those  who  had  surrounded 
me  and  counseled  me  how  to  fulfil  my  desire — how  to 
wreak  my  vengeance  even  though  no  earthly  form  was 
still  mine.  I  recoiled  from  them  but  they  had  no  thought 
to  let  me  go.  I  was  here — drawn  down,  as  they  hoped,  at 
last — and  they  sought  to  keep  me  with  them  that  I  might 
afford  them  some  sport  and  they  might  avenge  themselves 
upon  me  for  their  former  defeat. 

I  read  in  their  minds  this  thought,  though  outwardly 
they  were  crowding  around  me  with  every  protestation  of 
hearty  friendliness.  For  a  moment  I  was  at  a  loss  what  to 
do.  Then  I  resolved  to  go  with  them  and  see  what  they 
intended,  watching  at  the  same  time  for  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  free  myself  from  them.  I  therefore  suffered 
them  to  take  me  by  an  arm  each,  and  we  proceeded 
towards  a  large  house  on  one  side  of  the  square  which  they 
said  was  theirs,  and  where  they  would  have  the  pleasure  of 
introducing  me  to  their  friends.  Faithful  Friend  passed 
close  to  us  and  looking  at  me  impressed  the  warning, 

'"Consent  to  go,  but  beware  of  entering  into  any  of 
their  enjoyments  or  allowing  your  mind  to  be  dragged 
down  to  the  level  of  theirs." 

"We  entered  and  passed  up  a  wide  staircase  of  greyish 
stone,  which  like  all  things  here  bore  the  marks  and  stains 
of  shame  and  crime.  The  broad  steps  were  broken  and 
imperfect,  with  holes  here  and  there  large  enough,  some 
of  them,  to  let  a  man  through  into  the  black  dungeon-like 
depths  beneath.  As  we  passed  up  I  felt  one  of  them  give 
me  a  sly  push  just  as  we  were  stepping  over  one  of  these, 
and  had  I  not  been  watching  for  some  such  trick  I  might 
have  been  tripped  up  and  pushed  in.  As  it  was  I  simply 
drew  aside  and  my  too  officious  companion  narrowly  es- 
caped tumbling  in  himself,  whereat  the  rest  all  laughed 
and  he  scowled  savagely  at  me.  I  recognized  him  just 
then  as  the  one  whose  hand  had  been  shriveled  in  the 
silver  ring  of  fire  drawn  around  my  darling  on  the  occa- 


170   <A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

siou  when  her  love  had  drawn  me  to  her  and  saved  me 
from  yielding  to  these  dark  fiends.  This  spirit  held  his 
hand  carefully  hidden  under  his  black  cloak,  yet  I  could 
see  through  it,  and  I  beheld  the  shriveled  hand  and  arm, 
and  knew  then  that  I  might  indeed  beware  of  its  owner. 

At  the  top  of  the  staircase  we  passed  into  a  large 
magnificent  room,  lighted  up  by  a  glare  of  fire  and  hung 
around  with  dark  draperies  which  were  in  perfect  rags 
and  tatters  and  all  splashed  with  crimson  stains  of  wet 
hlood,  as  though  this  had  been  the  scene  of,  not  one  but 
many,  murders.  Around  the  rooms  were  placed  ghostly 
phantoms  of  ancient  furniture — ragged,  dirty,  and  de- 
faced, yet  retaining  in  them  a  semblance  to  an  earthly 
apartment  of  great  pretensions  to  splendor.  This  room 
was  filled  with  the  spirits  of  men  and  women.  Such  men! 
and  alas!  such  women!  They  had  lost  all  that  could  ever 
have  given  them  any  claim  to  the  charms  and  privileges 
of  their  sex.  They  were  worse  to  look  upon  than  the 
most  degraded  bedraggled  specimens  to  be  seen  in  any 
earthly  slum  at  night.  Only  in  Hell  could  women  sink  to 
such  an  awful  degradation  as  these.  The  men  were  to  the 
full  as  bad  or  even  if  possible  worse,  and  wrords  utterly  fail 
me  to  describe  them,  were  it  indeed  advisable  to  do  so. 
They  were  eating,  drinking,  shouting,  dancing,  playing 
cards  and  quarreling  over  them — in  short,  going  on  in 
such  a  way  as  the  worst  and  lowest  scenes  of  earthly  dis- 
sipation can  but  faintly  picture. 

I  could  see  a  faint  reflection  of  the  earthly  lives  of 
each,  and  knew  that  each  and  all  of  them,  men  and  women 
alike,  had  been  guilty,  not  only  of  shameless  lives,  but 
also  of  murder  from  one  motive  or  another.  On  my  left 
was  one  who  had  been  a  Duchess  in  the  days  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  and  I  beheld  that  in  her  history  she  had 
from  jealousy  and  cupidity  poisoned  no  less  than  six  per- 
sons. Reside  her  was  a  man  who  had  belonged  to  the 
same  era,  and  had  caused  several  persons  obnoxious  to  him 
to  be  assassinated  by  his  bravoes,  and  had  moreover  slain 
another  with  his  own  hand  in  a  most  treacherous  manner 
during  a  quarrel. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     171 

Another  woman  had  killed  her  illegitimate  child  be- 
cause it  stood  between  her  and  wealth  and  position.  She 
had  not  been  many  years  in  this  place  and  seemed  more 
overcome  by  shame  and  remorse  than  any  of  the  others,  so 
I  resolved  if  possible  to  get  near  to  and  speak  to  her. 

My  entrance  was  greeted  with  great  shouts  of 
laughter  and  wild  applause,  while  half  a  dozen  or  so  of 
eager  hands  took  hold  of  me  and  dragged  me  to  the  table, 
whereupon  there  were  cries :  "Let  us  drink  to  the  damna- 
tion of  this  our  new  Brother!  Let  us  baptize  him  with  a 
draught -of  this  fine  cooling  wine?"  And  before  I  well 
realized  their  intentions,  they  were  all  waving  their  glasses 
aloft  amidst  yells  and  shouts  and  horrible  laughter,  whilst 
one,  seizing  a  full  glass  of  the  fiery  liquid,  tried  to  throw  it 
over  me.  I  had  just  presence  of  mind  enough  to  step 
lightly  aside,  so  that  the  liquor  was  nearly  all  spilt  upon 
the  floor  and  only  a  small  portion  fell  upon  my  robe  which 
it  scorched  and  burned  like  vitrol,  while  the  wine  itself 
turned  into  a  bluish  flame — such  as  one  sees  with  lighted 
whisky — and  disappeared  at  last  with  an  explosion  as  of 
gunpowder.  Then  they  put  before  me  a  tray  full  of 
dishes  which  at  first  sight  resembled  earthly  delicacies, 
but  on  closer  inspection  I  saw  they  were  full  of  the  most 
horrible  corrupting  and  loathsome  maggots.  As  I  turned 
away  from  them  one  hag  of  a  woman  (for  she  was  much 
more  old  and  ugly  and  horrible  to  look  upon  than  the 
most  degraded  specimen  you  can  imagine)  whose  bleared 
eyes  and  fiendish  expression  made  me  recoil  from  her, 
seized  me  round  the  neck  and  tried,  with  many  grimaces 
which  she  intended  for  coquettish  smiles  (she  had  been, 
oh  ye  powers!  a  great  beauty  on  earth)  to  induce  me  to 
join  her  and  her  party  in  a  little  game  of  cards.  She  said: 
'"The  stakes  for  which  we  would  play  consist  of  the 
liberty  of  the  loser.  We  have  invented  this  pleasing  mode 
of  passing  our  time  here  since  it  revives  for  us  the 
divertissements  of  the  past;  and  because  there  is  no  money 
here  which  one  can  win,  or  use  if  you  win,  seeing  it  all 
turns  to  dross  in  your  hands,  we  have  adopted  this  mode 
of  paying  our  debts,  and  we  agree  to  be  the  slave  of  any- 


172    A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

one  who  beats  us  at  our  games  of  chance  and  skill  till  we 
can  turn  the  tables  on  them  by  ourselves  winning  and 
making  them  in  turn  our  slaves.  'Tis  a  charming  arrange- 
ment, as  you  would  find  did  you  join  our  party  for  a  little. 
These  others  here/'  she  added,  with  a  strange  mixture  of 
insolent  arrogance  and  animosity  in  her  tone — "these 
others  here  are  but  the  canaille,  the  scum  of  the  place,  and 
you  do  well  to  turn  from  them  and  their  amusements. 
But  for  me,  I  am  a  Royal  Duchess,  and  these  my  friends 
are  all  noble  also — and  we  would  adopt  you,  who  are  also, 
I  perceive,  one  of  the  elite,  among  ourselves." 

With  the  air  of  a  queen  she  signed  me  to  be  seated 
beside  herself,  and  had  she  been  a  few  degrees  less  horrible 
I  might  have  been  tempted  to  .do  so  if  only  from  my 
curiosity  to  see  what  their  game  would  be  like.  But  dis- 
gust was  too  strong  in  me  and  I  shook  myself  free  of  her 
as  well  as  I  could,  saying,  which  was  true,  that  cards  had 
never  possessed  any  attraction  for  me.  I  was  bent  on 
getting  near  the  woman  I  wished  to  speak  to,  and  very 
soon  an  opening  in  the  crowd  allowed  me  to  do  so. 

As  soon  as  I  got  beside  her  I  addressed  her  in  a  low 
voice  and  asked  if  she  was  sorry  for  the  murder  of  her 
child,  and  would  she  wish  to  leave  this  place  even  though 
it  would  be  a  long  and  sad  and  suffering  road  that  would 
take  her  from  it?  How  her  face  brightened  as  I  spoke! 
How  eagerly  she  faltered  out:  "What  do  you  mean?" 

"Be  assured,"  I  said,  "I  mean  well  to  you,  and  if  you 
will  watch  and  follow  me,  I  shall  doubtless  find  some 
means  for  us  both  to  leave  this  dreadful  place."  She 
pressed  my  hand  in  assent,  for  she  did  not  venture  to 
speak  for  the  other  spirits  were  again  crowding  around  us 
in  a  way  that  was  rapidly  growing  more  and  more  threat- 
ening, although  the  guise  of  friendliness  was  still  kept  up. 

The  Duchess  and  her  party  had  returned  to  their 
cards  with  a  frightful  avidity;  they  were  quarreling  over 
them  and  accusing  each  other  of  cheating,  which  I  have 
no  doubt  was  the  case,  and  it  seemed  as  though  a  fight  was 
about  to  begin  in  that  corner  of  the  room  to  vary  the 
monotony  of  their  existence.     I    noticed    also  that  the 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     173 

others  were  collecting  in  groups  round  the  doors  so  as  to 
keep  me  from  leaving  in  case  I  desired  to  do  so,  and  I  saw 
my  enemy  with  the  withered  hand  whispering  with  some 
others  of  very  low  degraded  type,  such  as  might  have  been 
slaves  in  their  past  lives.  Half  a  dozen  men  and  women 
came  up  and  urged  me  to  join  in  a  dance  they  were  in- 
dulging in,  which  was  like  some  of  those  abominations  we 
read  of  in  descriptions  of  the  Witches'  Sabbaths  of  the  old 
days  of  witchcraft,  and  which  I  shall  certainly  not  attempt 
further  to  describe.  Can  it  be,  I  thought  to  myself  as  I 
looked  at  them,  that  there  was  truth  in  these  old  tales 
after  all?  and  can  the  explanation  be  that  these  unfortu- 
nate beings,  who  were  accused  as  witches,  did  really  allow 
themselves  to  be  so  dominated  by  evil  spirits  that  their 
souls  were  for  a  time  drawn  down  to  one  of  these  spheres, 
and  took  part  in  some  of  its  frightful  orgies?  I  know 
not,  but  there  seems  truly  a  marvelous  resemblance  be- 
tween these  things  I  was  now  witnessing  and  what  was 
related  by  the  so-called  witches,  most  of  them  poor  half- 
witted mortals  more  to  be  pitied  than  condemned. 

As  these  creatures,  whose  gestures  it  were  an  insult 
to  call  dancing,  approached,  I  saw  they  were  trying  to  get 
behind  us  in  a  ring  and  surround  us,  and  some  instinct 
seemed  to  tell  me  not  to  allow  them.  I  drew  back  close 
to  the  wall,  holding  the  woman's  hand  in  mine  and 
whispering  to  her  not  to  leave  go  of  me  on  any  account. 
The  whole  crowd  of  spirits  were  now  gathering  towards 
my  end  of  the  room,  the  dull  ferocity  of  their  faces  and 
wild  savage  glitter  of  their  eyes  in  terrible  contrast  to 
their  affectation  of  light-hearted  gaiety.  Closer  and 
closer  they  gathered — a  moving  mass  of  evil  personified. 

For  once  their  quarrels  and  jealousies  merged  in 
their  common  desire  to  do  me  harm,  to  get  me  down  and 
trample  me  and  rend  me  to  pieces.  As  the  muttering  of 
a  storm  came  here  and  there  broken  disjointed  words  of 
hate  and  menace,  while  those  dancing  demons  kept  up 
their  wild  antics  in  front  of  us.  All  at  once  a  great  cry — 
a  yell — of  fury  broke  from  them.  "A  spy!  a  traitor!  An 
enemy  has  got  amongst  us!     It  is  one  of  the  accursed 


in    A  WANDERS  IX  Tin-:  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

brothers  from  above  come  here  to  spy  upon  us  and  carry 
away  our  victims.  Down  upon  him!  Stamp  upon  him! 
Crush  him  to  death!  Tear  him  to  pieces,!  Hurl  him  into 
tin1  vaults  below!     Away  with  him!     Away!     Away!" 

Like  as  an  avalanche  sweeps  down  the  mountain  side 
they  rushed  upon  us — those  raging  fiends — and  I  for  one 
thought  we  were  done  for  and  could  not  but  regret  that  I 
had  been  drawn  into  entering  the  place  at  all.  I  thought 
I  was  lost,  when  lo!  just  as  the  nearest  of  them  were 
actually  upon  us  the  wall  behind  opened  and  Faithful 
Friend  and  another  spirit  drew  us  through,  the  wall 
closing  again  so  suddenly  that  the  yelling  crowd  scarce 
realized  how  we  had  disappeared. 

Once  outside  we  were  borne  away  to  a  short  distance, 
whence  looking  hack,  we  could  see  through  the  walls 
(which  had  become  transparent  to  our  eyes)  the  whole 
mass  of  spirits  quarreling  and  fighting  with  each  other 
like  so  many  devils,  each  blaming  the  others  that  we  had 
been  allowed  to  escape. 

"Look  now,"  said  Faithful  Friend,  "had  you  allowed 
yourself  to  join — even  for  a  moment — in  any  of  their  pur- 
suits, we  should  not  have  been  able  to  help  you,  for  you 
would  have  become  clothed  for  a  time  with  their  material 
magnetism,  and  these  walls  would  have  held  you,  like 
them,  prisoner,  since  you  would  have  become  too  gross  to 
pass  through  them.  Those  spirits  have  not  done  with 
you  yet,  and  you  must  look  to  seeing  them  again,  for  even 
the  brief  time  upon  the  earth-plane  during  which  you 
yielded  to  their  influence  and  thought  of  following  their 
suggestions  has  created  a  link  between  you  and  them. 
which  it  will  be  difficult  to  sever  till  you  }Tourself  stand  on 
a  height  of  spiritual  development  which  will  set  a  gulf 
between  you.  As  yet,  I  am  told,  you  have  not  fully  over- 
come your  own  passions — you  have  learned  to  subdue  and 
control  them,  but  all  desire  for  revenge  upon  those  who 
wronged  you  in  the  past  is  not  dead,  and  till  that  is  so  you 
will  not  be  able  to  shake  yourself  entirely  free  from  these 
beings,  especially  while  you  are  in  their  own  particular 


A  WAXDEEEE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     175 

sphere  where  they  indeed  are  strong.  For  my  part  I  have 
fought  a  battle  not  unlike  that  which  you  wage  now,  and 
I  know — none  better — how  hard  it  is  to  forgive  where  we 
have  been  deeply  wronged.  Yet  I  know  also  that  you  will 
do  it  thoroughly  and  freely  some  day  and  then  will  these 
dark  spirits  have  lost  power  to  cross  your  path. 

"My  directions  are  now  to  guide  you  to  the  Palace  of 
one  you  will  be  surprised  to  see,  for  he  is  one  whose  name 
is  familiar  to  you  though  he  lived  on  earth  long  before 
your  time.  You  have  felt  surprise  at  finding  how  little 
these  beings  here  are  able  to  disguise  from  you  their  real 
spiritual  state.  Know,  then,  that  you  owe  this  power  of 
clearer  and  purer  vision  to  her  whose  pure  love  flows  ever 
to  you  as  a  constant  stream  of  crystal  water,  giving  you 
the  power  to  perceive  higher  things  and  a  perception  of 
these  lower  spirits  in  all  their  foulness. 

"Between  yourself  and  your  beloved  one  there  is  now 
so  strong  a  link  that  you  unconsciously  partake  of  the 
powers  of  her  higher  nature  even  as  she  shall  partake  of 
the  strength  of  yours,  and  thus  though  to  yourself,  in 
your  own  present  state  of  spiritual  development,  much  of 
the  corruption  of  this  place  might  be  glossed  over  by  the 
art  of  these  dark  beings,  yet  in  the  clearer  purer  percep- 
tion you  draw  from  her  you  possess  a  power  to  perceive 
things  as  they  truly  are  and  must  appear  to  a  pure  spirit 
beholding  them.  Thus  the  glamour  of  deception  is 
thrown  over  your  senses  in  vain.  Great,  then,  is  her  love 
in  its  protecting  power  for  you,  and  truly  was  I  told  that 
her  love  would  be  as  a  shield  to  you,  my  friend,  in  all 
your  trials. 

"Before  we  leave  this  sphere  I  am  to  show  you 
another  picture  that  will,  I  fear,  sadden  even  while  it 
instructs  you,  and  that  is  the  picture  of  one,  such  as  you 
would  have  been  without  her  love,  left  to  battle  alone 
with  the  hopeless  burden  of  your  sins  and  passions,  able 
to  see  only  as  far  as  your  own  unaided  powers  of  vision 
could  show  you,  and  deprived  of  all  that  well-spring  of 
purity  and  love  that  ever  flows  to  you  from  her.  When 
your  journey  in  this  place  is  over  you  are  to  follow  me  to 


176     A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

a  spot  where  you  will  see  this  other  picture,  and  we  know 
the  Bight  will  make  you  doubly  tender  and  considerate  to 
those  unhappy  men  whom  you  can  help  better  than  any 
since  you  will  know  that  but  for  her  saving  love  you  must 
have  sunk  like  them,  and  in  the  fulness  of  your  gratitude 
we  know  you  will  seek  to  do  for  others  what  has  been  done 
for  yourself." 

As  he  ceased  to  speak  we  turned  away  from  the  spot 
silently  together,  my  heart  too'full  for  me  to  answer  him 
in  any  words.  We  had  left  the  poor  woman  in  the  care  of 
a  bright  angel  of  the  upper  spheres  and  were  assured  she 
would  have  every  help  given  her  to  progress. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     177 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

On  the  outskirts  of  the  town  we  came  to  a  magnifi- 
cent palace,  also  most  strangely  familiar  and  yet  un- 
familiar to  my  eyes.  In  wandering  through  this  city  I 
was  so  reminded  of  its  earthly  double  that  I  felt  as  one 
who  sees  some  familiar  beloved  spot  in  a  nightmare  vision 
which  has  distorted  and  rendered  hideous  all  that  he 
deemed  so  fair.  I  had  oftentimes  in  my  youth  gazed  up 
at  this  beautiful  palace  and  taken  pride  to  myself  that  I 
came  of  the  race  who  had  once  owned  it  and  all  its  broad 
lands,  and  now,  here,  to  behold  it  thus,  with  all  its  beau- 
ties tarnished,  its  marble  stained  and  mildewed,  its  ter- 
races and  statues  broken  and  defaced,  its  fair  front  marred 
with  the  black  cobwebs  of  past  crimes  and  wrongs  done 
within  its  walls,  and  its  lovely  gardens  a  dreary  blackened 
waste  as  though  the  breath  of  a  pestilence  had  swept  over 
it — sent  through  me  a  thrill  of  sorrow  and  dismay,  and  it 
was  with  a  saddened  heart  I  followed  my  friend  into  the 
interior. 

Up  its  great  broad  stairways  we  passed,  and  through 
the  handsome  doors  which  opened  of  themselves  to  admit 
us.  Around  us  were  many  dark  spirits  flitting  to  and  fro. 
Each  and  all  seemed  to  expect  and  welcome  us  as  guests 
whose  coming  was  awaited.  At  the  last  door  Faithful 
Friend  once  again  left  me,  saying  he  would  rejoin  me  in 
another  place. 

A  great  blaze  of  ruddy  light  greeted  my  eyes  as  this 
last  door  opened,  and  seemed  as  though  someone  had 
opened  the  door  of  a  furnace,  so  hot  and  stifling  was  the 


178     A  WANDEltEfc  IX  TIIK  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

atmosphere.  At  first  I  almost  deemed  the  place  ou  fire, 
then  by  degrees  the  blaze  of  lighl  died  down  to  a  dull  red 
glow  and  a  wave  of  steel  grey  mist  swept  through  the  hall 
instead,  while  a  wind  as  of  ice  froze'  the  blood  at  my 
In-art  and  seemed  to  impart  to  me  its  icy  chill.  These 
strange  waves  of  heat  and  cold  were  caused  by  the  intense 
fire  of  passion  and  the  cold  selfish  chill  of  the  dual  nature 
of  the  man  who  reigned  here  as  Prince.  To  the  most 
fierce  insatiable  passions  he  united  an  intense  selfishness 
and  an  intellect  of  the  highest  order.  As  these  swayed 
him  in  turn  in  his  earthly  life,  causing  strange  alterna- 
tions of  fiery  passion  and  cool  calculation  in  his  conduct, 
so  did  these  as  waves  thrown  off  by  his  spirit  cause  in  this 
his  spiritual  mansion  these  extraordinary  variations  of 
intense  heat  and  extreme  cold  that  knew  no  medium  of 
temperature  between.  As  he  had  dominated  all  men  on 
earth  who  came  within  the  range  of  his  power,  so  did  he 
dominate  the  spiritual  beings  around  him  now,  and  rule  as 
absolutely  over  them  as  he  had  ruled  over  his  earthly 
subjects. 

At  the  top  of  this  great  hall  I  beheld  him  seated  in 
his  chair  of  state  which  had  around  it  all  but  imperial 
insignia.  His  walls  were  hung  with  the  semblance  of 
ancient  tapestry,  but,  ah!  how  more  than  merely  faded 
and  ragged  it  looked.  It  was  as  though  the  thoughts  and 
the  life  and  the  magnetism  of  the  man  had  become  woven 
into  those  ghostly  hangings  and  had  corrupted  them  with 
his  own  corruption.  Instead  of  pictures  of  the  chase,  of 
floating  nymphs,  and  crowned  sea-gods  there  was  a  con- 
stantly shifting  panorama  of  this  man's  past  life  in  all  its 
hideousness  and  nakedness,  thrown  like  pictures  from  a 
magic  lantern  upon  the  stately  mouldering  ragged  Arras 
drapery  behind  and  around  him.  The  great  windows, 
through  which  the  light  of  day  never  shone,  were  hung 
with  the  semblance  of  what  had  on  earth  been  handsome 
velvet  curtains,  but  which  now  appeared  as  some  funeral 
pall  shrouding  the  skeleton  shapes  that  lurked  like  aveng- 
ing spectres  within  them — spectral  forms  of  those  victims 
whom  this  man  had  sacrificed  to  his  lust  and  ambition. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     179 

Great  drinking  cups  of  silver,  that  seemed  of  a  white  heat 
when  yon  touched  them,  and  huge  costly  vases  adorned 
the  tables,  and  here  as  elsewhere  there  was  the  same  hid- 
eous phantom  of  a  feast — the  same  bitter  mockery  of 
earthly  pleasure. 

At  my  entrance  the  Lord  of  this  horrid  place  rose 
from  liis  throne  to  greet  me  with  welcoming  words,  and  I 
recognized  with  a  thrill  of  horror  that  he  was  the  spiritual 
counterpart  of  that  ancestor  of  my  family  from  whom  we 
had  all  been  so  proud  to  think  we  were  descended,  and 
whose  portraits  I  had  often  been  told  I  much  resembled. 
The  same  man,  the  0  same  haughty  handsome  features, 
without  doubt,  but,  ah!  how  subtle,  how  awful  was  the 
change  upon  them,  the  brand  of  shame  and  dishonor 
stamped  on  every  line,  the  corruption  showing  through 
the  mask  with  which  he  still  strove  to  cover  it.  Here  in 
Hell  all  men  are  seen  as  they  are,  and  no  power  can  avail 
to  hide  one  atom  of  their  vileness — and  this  man  was  vile 
indeed.  Even  in  an  age  of  sensuality  he  had  been  dis- 
tinguished for  his  sins,  and  in  an  age  when  men  thought 
but  little  of  cruelty  he  had  shown  as  one  without  pity  or 
remorse.  I  saw  it  all  now  mirrored  in  those  pictures 
around  him,  and  I  felt  overwhelmed  to  think  that  there 
could  have  been  points  of  resemblance  of  any  sort  between 
us.  I  shuddered  at  the  false  empty  pride  of  those  who  had 
gloried  in  saying  they  were  allied  to  such  a  man,  simply 
because  he  had  in  his  day  wielded  almost  regal  power. 
And  this  man  spoke  to  me  now  as  one  in  whom  he  had  an 
interest,  since  I  was  of  his  race. 

He  told  me  he  welcomed  me  here  and  would  that  I 
should  dwell  with  him.  By  the  mysterious  link  that 
earthly  relationship  gave  he  had  attached  himself  to  my 
earth-life  and  had  from  time  to  time  been  able  to  influence 
it.  When  I  had  felt  most  of  ambition  and  a  proud  desire 
to  rise  and  be  again  one  with  the  great  ones  of  earth  as 
had  been  my  ancestors  in  the  past,  then  had  he  been 
drawn  up  to  me  and  had  fed  and  fostered  my  pride  and 
my  haughty  spirit,  that  was  in  a  sense  akin  to  his  own. 
And  he  it  was,  he  told  me,  who  had  prompted  those  acts 


180    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

of  my  life  of  which  I  felt  now  ihc  most  ashamed — acts 
that  J  would  have  given  all  my  life  to  undo,  after  I  had 

done  them.  And  it  was  he,  he  said,  who  had  from  lime  to 
time  sought  to  raise  me  in  the  world  till  I  should  be  able 
to  grasp  power  of  some  kind  and  reign  a  king  in  the  field 
of  intellect  it'  I  could  not  reign  king  of  a  country  as  he 
had  done.  Through  me,  he  had  hoped  himself  again  to 
wield  power  over  men,  winch  should  be  some  compensa- 
tion for  his  banishment  to  this  place  of. darkness  and 
decay. 

"Faugh!"  he  cried.  "This  is  as  a  charnel-house  of 
mouldering  bones  and  dead  skeletons,  but  now  you  are 
come  to  join  me  we  shall  see  if  we  cannot,  combined,  do 
something  to  make  ourselves  feared,  if  not  obeyed,  by  the 
dwellers  of  the  earth.  I  have  had  many  a  disappointment 
in  you,  oh!  son  of  our  noble  race,  and  I  feared  you  would 
escape  me  at  last.  I  have  tried  for  years  to  draw  you 
.  down,  but  was  ever  baffled  by  some  unseen  power.  Once 
and  again  when  I  deemed  I  had  beyond  doubt  made  all 
things  sure,  you  would  shake  me  off  and  break  away  from 
all  control,  till  I  had  well  nigh  abandoned  the  struggle. 
But  I  do  not  yield  readily  to  anyone,  and  when  I  could 
not  be  with  you  myself  I  sent  some  of  my  henchmen  to  do 
you  service— ho!  ho!  service — yes,  service — and  so  here 
you  are  at  last,  and  by  my  faith  you  shall  not  again  leave 
me.  Behold  how  fair  are  the  pleasures  I  have  prepared 
for  you." 

He  took  my  hand — his  seemed  as  though  burning 
with  more  than  the  fire  of  fever — and  led  me  to  a  seat 
beside  himself.  I  hesitated,  then  resolved  to  sit  down  and 
see  this  adventure  out,  but  prayed  in  my  heart  to  be  kept 
safe  from  temptation.  I  noticed  he  did  not  offer  me  wine 
or  food — (his  instinct  and  knowledge  told  him  I  should 
only  despise  them) — but  he  caused  a  most  lovely  strain  of 
music  to  sound  in  my  ears  that  had  so  long  been  deprived 
of  the  solace  of  that  heavenly  art  which  ever  appealed 
most  strongly  to  my  senses.  A  wild  weird  sensuous  strain, 
such  as  a  siren  might  have  sung  when  she  sought  to  lure 
her   victims,  swelled,  died    away,  and    rose   again.     No 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     181 

music  of  the  earth  could  have  been  at  once  so  beautiful 
and  so  horrible — could  at  the  same  time  intoxicate  and 
inflame  the  brain  and  heart,  and  yet  fill  my  soul  with  so 
intense  a  feeling  of  fear  and  repugnance. 

And  then  before  us  rose  a  great  black  mirror  in 
which  I  saw  reflected  the  earth  and  its  life,  and  myself 
swaying  the  minds  and  the  thoughts  of  thousands  through 
the  fevered  fascinations  of  such  music  which  I  could  make 
mine,  and  through  its  spell  waken  the  lowest  yet  the  most 
refined  of  passions,  till  those  who  heard  should  lose  them- 
selves and  their  souls  under  its  potent  witchery. 

Then  he  showed  me  armies  and  nations  dominated 
to  ambitious  ends  by  himself  and  his  influence,  so  that  he 
should  reign  again  as  a  despot  through  the  organism  of  an 
earthly  tyrant.  Here,  too,  he  said,  I  should  share  his 
power. 

Again,  I  saw  the  power  in  intellect  and  in  literature 
which  I  could  control  and  influence  through  the  imagina- 
tive descriptive  faculties  of  mortals  who,  under  my 
prompting,  would  write  such  books  as  appealed  to  the 
reason,  the  intellect,  and  the  sensual  passions  of  man- 
kind, until  the  false  glamour  thrown  over  them  should 
cause  men  to  view  with  indulgence  and  even  approval  the 
most  revolting  ideas  and  the  most  abominable  teachings. 

He  showed  me  picture  after  picture,  illustrating  how 
man  on  earth  could  be  used  by  spirits,  who  possessed 
sufficient  will  power  and  knowledge,  as  mere  tools  through 
which  to  satisfy  their  lust  for  power  and  sensual  enjoy- 
ments of  every  sort.  Much  of  this  I  had  known  before 
but  had  never  fully  realized  the  vast  extent  of  the  mischief 
possible  to  such  a  being  as  the  one  before  me,  were  it  not 
for  the  checks  imposed  upon  him  by  those  higher  powers 
whose  wills  are  as  strong  as  his.  Them  he  only  knows  as 
an  unseen  force  opposed  to  him,  which  baffles  his  efforts 
at  every  turn,  unless  he  can  find  in  man  a  medium  of  so 
congenial  a  nature  that  they  can  truly  work  together  as 
one.  Then  indeed  do  sorrow  and  devastation  follow  in 
their  train  and  then  do  we  see  such  monsters,  of  triumph- 
ant wickedness  as  have  disgraced  the  annals  of  all  times. 


L82     A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

Now,  thank  Heaven,  these  arc  growing  fewer  and  farther 
between,  as  the  human  race  and  the  spirit  spheres  become 
purified  through  the  teachings  of  the  angels  of  the 
celestial  spheri  s. 

Last  of  all  there  appeared  before  us  a  woman's  form, 
of  such  surpassing  loveliness,  such  seductive  charm,  that 
for  one  instant  I  arose  to  look  more  closely  at  her  and  see 
if  she  could  be  real,  and  at  that  moment  there  came  be- 
tween me  and  the  black  magic  mirror  the  mist-like  form 
of  an  angel  with  the  face  of  my  beloved.  And  beside  her 
this  woman  seemed  so  coarse  and  material  and  revolting 
to  me  that  the  momentary  illusion  of  the  senses  was  gone 
and  I  knew  her  for  what  she  was.  what  all  her  kind  are  in 
truth — sirens  that  betray  and  ruin  and  drag  men's  souls 
to  Hell  while  they  themselves  are  all  but  soulless. 

This  revulsion  of  feeling  in  myself  caused  the  waves 
of  magnetic  ether  on  which  the  music  and  these  images 
were  borne  to  us,  to  waver  and  break  and  vanish,  leaving 
me  alone  with  my  tempter  once  more,  with  his  voice 
sounding  in  my  ears,  pointing  out  to  me  how  all  these 
delights  might  still  be  enjoyed  by  me  if  I  would  but  join 
him  and  be  his  pupil.  But  his  words  fell  upon  deaf  ears, 
his  promises  allured  me  not.  In  my  heart  was  only,  a 
horror  of  all  these  things,  only  a  wild  longing  to  free 
myself  from  his  presence. 

I  rose  and  turned  from  him,  and  sought  to  go  forth, 
but  found  I  could  not  move  one  step.  An  invisible  chain 
held  me  fast,  and  with  a  derisive  laugh  of  rage  and 
triumph,  he  called  out  to  me  ironically:  "Go,  since  thou 
wilt  have  none  of  my  favors  or  my  promises.  Go  forth 
now  and  see  what  awaits  you."  I  could  not  move  one 
step,  and  began  to  feel  a  strange  alarm  creeping  over  me/ 
and  a  strange  numbness  of  limbs  and  brain.  A  mist' 
seemed  to  gather  round  and  enfold  me  in  its  chill  embrace, 
while  phantom  forms  of  awful  shape  and  giant  size  drew 
near  and  yet  more  near.  Oh,  horror!  they  were  my  own 
past  misdeeds,  my  own  evil  thoughts  and  desires,  which 
had  been  prompted  by  this  very  man  beside  me  and  which 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     183 

nestling  in  my  heart  had  formed  those  links  between  us 
that  held  me  to  him  now. 

A  wild,  fierce,  cruel  laugh  broke  from  him  at  my 
discomfiture.  He  pointed  to  these  weird  shapes,  and  bid 
me  see  what  I  was  who  thought  myself  too  good  for  his 
company.  Darker  and  darker  grew  the  hall,  and  wave 
on  wave  the  grim  phantoms  crowded  round  us,  growing 
each  more  black  and  fearful  as  they  gathered,  hemming 
me  in  on  every  side,  while  below  our  feet  opened  a  great 
vault  or  pit  in  which  I  saw,  or  seemed  to  see,  a  seething 
mass  of  struggling  human  forms.  My  fearful  ancestor 
shook  in  wild  paroxysms  of  rage  and  fiendish  laughter, 
and,  pointing  to  the  gathering  phantoms  bid  them  hurl 
me  into  the  black  pit.  But  suddenly  above  me  in  the 
darkness  gleamed  a  star  and  from  it  fell  a  ray  of  light  like 
a  rope,  which  I  grasped  with  both  my  hands  and  as  the 
folds  of  light  diffused  themselves  around  me  I  was  drawn 
up,  out  of  that  dark  place,  away  from  that  fearful  palace. 

^  *  ^  .>-  :|:  :•:  H=  H=  ^= 

When  I  recovered  from  my  astonishment  (and  relief) 
at  my  release,  I  found  myself  in  the  open  country  with 
Faithful  Friend  and  no  less  a  spirit  than  my  Eastern  guide 
himself  making  passes  over  me,  for  I  was  much  shaken 
and  exhausted  with  the  struggle.  My  guide  in  the  most 
kind  and  tender  manner  addressed  me,  and  told  me  he  had 
permitted  this  trial  in  order  that  my  knowledge  of  the 
true  nature  of  the  man  I  had  just  left  should  be  my  best 
protection  in  future  against  his  wiles  and  schemes  for  my 
enslavement. 

"So  long,"  said  he,  "as  you  thought  of  this  man  with 
pride  or  respect  as  an  ancestor  and  one  who  had  any  ties 
to  you,  so  long  would  his  power  to  influence  you  continue, 
but  now  your  own  sense  of  horror  and  repugnance  will  act 
as  a  repelling  power  to  keep  his  influence  away  from  you. 
Your  will  is  quite  as  strong  as  his,  and  you,  did  you  but 
know  it,  need  no  other  protection.  In  the  interview  just 
past,  you  allowed  your  senses  to  be  beguiled  and  your  will 
paralyzed  by  this  dark  being  before  you  were  aware,  and 
thus,  had  I  not  rescued  you,  he  might,  though  for  a  time 


V 


■THE  A 

UNIVERSITY   ) 


is)     A  W.W'DKKKR  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

diily.  have  made  yon  subject  to  him  and,  while  you  were 
s< i.  have  done  you  serious  injury.  Take  heed,  now  while 
yon  yet  remain  in  his  sphere,  that  you  do  not  again  lose 
the  sovereignty  over  yourself,  which  is  your  own  and 
which  no  man  can  usurp  unless  your  wavering  will  allows 
him  to  do  so.  I  leave  you  again,  my  son,  to  follow  still 
your  pilgrimage,  which  will  soon,  however,  draw  to  its 
close,  and  I  bid  yon  he  of  good  cheer  since  your  reward 
shall  come  from  her  whom  yon  love  and  who  loves  you 
and  sends  ever  her  most  tender  thoughts  to  you." 

lie  was  gone  as  mysteriously  as  he  had  come,  and 
Faithful  Friend  and  I  set  out  once  more  to  see  what 
experiences  we  would  meet  with  farther  on.  I  was  specu- 
lating what  our  next  adventure  would  he  when  a  couple 
of  spirits  hurried  up  to  us  with  a  great  importance  of 
manner  and  asked  if  we  were  not  members  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Hope,  since,  if  so,  they  had  a  message  for  one  of 
us  from  a  dearly  loved  friend  on  earth  and  were  sent  by 
one  of  our  guides  to  deliver  it.  At  first  I  was  much 
pleased.  I  thought  at  once  of  my  darling  and  that  they 
were  sent  from  her,  since  they  had  not  the  appearance  of 
most  of  the  dark  spirits  around.  Their  robes  shone  with 
a  peculiar  blue  grey  light  that  was  almost  like  a  mist 
clothing  them,  and  I  had  some  trouble  to  make  out  their 
faces.  When  I  did  so  I  could  not  help  starting  and  a  feel- 
ing of  distrust  crept  over  me,  for  the  flickering  veil  of  grey 
blue  gauze  that  interposed  between  us  became  at  times  so 
thin  that  I  could  see  a  couple  of  most  repulsive  dark 
spirits  under  it.  Faithful  Friend  quietly  pressed  nry  arm 
as  a  warning,  so  I  addressed  them  with  caution  and  asked 
what  was  their  message. 

"In  the  name  of  the  Prophet,"  began  one,  "we  were 
to  tell  you  that  your  love  is  very,  very  ill,  and  prays  that 
you  return  to  earth  to  see  her  without  delay,  lest  her  spirit 
shall  have  passed,  ere  you  arrive,  to  realms  where  you 
cannot  follow  her.  We  are  to  show  you  the  way  to  reach 
her  quickly." 

Their  words  gave  me  at  first  a  great  sense  of  fear. 


A  WANDEREK  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     185 

"How  long,"  I  asked  eagerlv,  "is  it  since  you 
left  her?" 

"Xot  two  days,"  was  the  reply,  "and  we  are  to  bring 
yon  at  once.  Your  Eastern  guide  is  with  her  and  has  sent 
us  specially." 

Then  I  knew  they  lied,  for  the  Eastern  guide  had  but 
just  left  and  he  had  said  no  word  of  my  beloved  being  ill. 
But  I  temporized  with  them  and  said: 

"Give  me  the  secret  sign  of  our  Brotherhood,  since, 
unless  you  do  bo,  I  am,  of  course,  not  able  to  go  with  you." 

The  veil  of  gauzy  mist  was  fast  fading  from  them  and 
I  could  see  their  dark  forms  growing  more  and  more  dis- 
tinct beneath.  I  did  not,  however,  show  them  that  I  saw 
this,  and  as  they  did  not  answer  at  once,  but  were  whisper- 
ing to  each  other,  I  continued: 

"If  you  are  sent  by  our  guide  you  will  surely  give  me 
the  countersign  of  our  order?" 

"Surely  yes.  Certainly  I  can.  Here  it  is — Hope  is 
Eternal" — and  he  smiled  with  an  air  of  great  frankness. 

"Good,"  said  I,  "go  on,  finish  it." 

"Finish  it!  Is  there  more  you  want?"  and  he  stood 
puzzled.  The  other  nudged  him  and  whispered  some- 
thing, whereupon  he  added,  "Hope  is  Eternal  and  Truth 
is — and  Truth  is — ha — hum — what,  amico?" 

"Inevitable,"  said  the  other. 

I  smiled  most  blandly  upon  them  both.  "You  are  so 
clever,  friends,  no  doubt  you  can  now  give  me  the 
symbol?" 

"Symbol?  Diavolo!  there  was  no  symbol  we  were 
to  give." 

"Was  there  not?"  said  I.  "Then  I  must  be  the  one 
to  give  it  to  you." 

They  both  raised  their  arms  to  make  a  grab  at  me. 
I  saw  one  had  a  withered  hand  and  knew  at  once  to  whom 
I  was  indebted  for  this  little  plot.  As  they  rushed  upon 
me  I  stepped  back  and  made  the  sign  of  the  sacred  symbol 
of  Truth  in  all  ages  and  all  worlds. 

At  the  sight  of  this  they  cowered  down  upon  the 
earth  as  though  I  had  struck  them  and  rendered  them 


180    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

unconscious.  There  we  left  them  to  ruminate  at  their 
leisure. 

I  asked  Faithful  Friend  as  we  moved  away  what  he 
thought  they  would  do  now. 

"In  a  short  time,"  said  he,  "they  will  recover.  You 
have  given  them  a  shock,  and  for  the  moment  stunned 
then),  but  they  will  he  up  after  us  again  ere  long  with 
some  fresh  devilment  they  will  have  hatched.  If  you  had 
gone  with  them  they  would  have  led  you  into  the  morass 
yonder  and  left  you  to  wander  ahout  half  choked,  if  they 
did  you  no  more  serious  harm.  You  must  ever  remember 
that  they  have  great  power  in  their  own  sphere  if  once 
you  give  yourself  up  to  their  guidance  in  any  sense." 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     187 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Faithful  Friend  now  proposed  to  me  that  we  should 
visit  one  more  city  in  this  strange  land,  in  order  that  I 
might  see  the  man  whose  fate  might  have  been  my  own 
but  for  the  constancy  and  love  which  has  so  helped  and 
sustained  me.  Our  earthly  histories  were  in  some  respects 
different,  but  there  were  some  points  of  resemblance  both 
in  that  and  in  our  dispositions  which  would  make  the 
sight  of  this  man  and  the  knowledge  of  his  history  useful 
to  me,  while  at  a  future  time  I  might  be  able  to  help  him. 

"It  is  now  more  than  ten  years,"  he  said,  "since  this 
man  passed  from  earth,  and  it  is  only  lately  that  he  has 
begun  to  wish  to  progress.  I  found  him  here  on  my  for- 
mer visit  to  this  place  and  was  able  to  assist  him  a  little 
and  finally  to  enroll  him  as  one  of  our  Brotherhood,  and 
I  am  now  told  that  he  is  shortly  to  leave  this  sphere  for 
a  higher  one." 

I  assented  to  the  proposed  journey,  and  after  a  short 
but  very  rapid  flight  we  found  ourselves  hovering  over  a 
wide  lagoon  upon  whose  dark  bosom  there  floated  a  great 
city,  its  towers  and  palaces  rising  from  the  waters,  and 
reflected  in  them  as  in  a  mirror  of  black  marble  veined 
with  dark  red  lines  that  somehow  made  me  feel  they  were 
streams  of  blood  flowing  through  it.  Overhead  there 
hung  the  same  dark  pall  of  cloud  lighted  by  the  patches 
of  steel  grey  and  fiery  red  floating  vapor  which  I  had 
noticed  in  the  other  city.  The  appearance  of  this  place 
suggested  to  me  that  we  must  be  a^ut  to  enter  the  Venice 
of  these  lower  spheres,  and  on  my  saying  so  to  Faithful 


168    A  WANDERER  IN"  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

Friend  he  answered:  "Ye?,  and  you  will  here  find  many 
celebrated  men  whose  names  were  written  on  the  history 
of  their  times  in  letters  of  fire  and  blood." 

We  now  found  ourselves  in  the  town,  and  proceeded 
to  pass  through  its  principal  canals  and  squares  in  order 
that  I  might  see  them. 

Yes,  there  they  were,  these  degraded  counterparts  of 
all  those  beautiful  places  made  familiar  by  the  brush  of 
the  artist  and  the  fame  of*  those  who  have  carved  for  them- 
selves a  niche  in  the  Temple  of  History.  There  flowed 
the  canals,  seeming  like  dark  crimson  streams  of  blood 
flowing  from  some  vast  shambles, washing  and  rippling  up 
the  marble  steps  of  the  palaces  t<3  leave  there  a  thick  foul 
stain.  The  very  stones  of  the  buildings  and  pavements 
seemed  to  me  to  ooze  and  drip  blood.  The  air  was  thick 
with  its  red  shade.  Deep  down  below  the  crimson  waters 
I  saw  the  skeleton  forms  of  the  countless  thousands  who 
had  met  their  deaths  by  assassination  or  more  legalized 
forms  of  murder,  and  whose  bodies  had  found  sepulture 
beneath  the  dark  waves.  Below  in  the  dungeons  which 
honeycombed  the  city  I  beheld  many  spirits  crowded 
together  and  like  caged  wild  beasts — the  ferocity  of  the 
cruel  tiger  in  their  gleaming  eyes  and  the  vindictive 
malice  of  the  chained  human  tyrant  in  every  attitude  of 
their  crouching  figures.  Spirits  whom,  it  was  needful  to 
thus  confine  since  they  were  more  ferocious  than  savage 
animals.  Processions  of  city  magistrates  and  their  attend- 
ants, haughty  nobles  with  their  motley  following  of  sol- 
diers and  seamen  and  slaves,  merchants  and  priests,  hum- 
ble citizens  and  fishermen,  men  and  women  of  all  ranks 
and  all  times,  passed  to  and  fro,  and  nearly  all  were  alike 
degraded  and  repulsive-looking.  And  as  they  came  and 
went  it  seemed  to  me  as  if  skeleton  hands,  phantom  arms, 
rose  through  the  stones  of  the  pavements  from  the  dun- 
geons beneath,  striving  to  draw  these  others  down  to  share 
their  own  misery.  There  was  a  haunted,  hunted  look  on 
many  of  their  faces,  and  black  care  seemed  to  sit  behind 
them  continually. 

Far  out  in  the  waters  of  the  lagoon  spectral  galleys 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     189 

floated,  filled  with  slaves  chained  to  their  oars,  but 
amoEgst  them  there  were  no  longer  the  helpless  victims 
of  political  intrigue  or  private  revenge.  These  beings 
were  the  spirits  of  those  who  had  been  the  hard  task- 
masters, the  skillful  plotters  who  had  consigned  many  to 
this  living  death.  Yet  farther  out  at  sea,  I  could  behold 
the  great  ships,  and  nearer  at  hand  in  the  ruined  harbor 
there  were  more  spiritual  counterparts  of  those  piratical 
craft  of  the  Adriatic,  filled  with  the  spirits  of  their  pirati- 
cal crews  who  had  made  plunder  and  rapine  and  war  their 
delight,  and  who  now  spent  their  time  battling  with  one 
another  and  making  forays  upon  others  like  themselves. 
Spectral-looking  gondolas  floated  upon  the  water-ways  of 
the  city,  filled  with  spirits  bent  upon  following  still  the 
occupations  and  pleasures  of  their  former  lives.  In  short, 
in  this  Venice,  as  in  the  other  cities  I  had  seen,  there 
existed  a  life  akin  to  that  of  earth  save  that  from  this 
place  all  the  good  and  pure  and  true,  all  the  real  patriots 
and  unselfish  citizens  were  gone,  and  only  the  evil  left  to 
prey  upon  each  other  and  act  as  avenging  spirits  to  their 
companions  in  crime. 

Seated  upon  the  parapet  of  one  of  the  smaller  bridges 
we  found  a  man,  wearing  the  dress  of  the  Brothers  of 
Hope — a  dark  grey  robe  such  as  I  had  myself  worn  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  my  wanderings.  His  arms  were  folded 
upon  his  breast  and  his  face  was  so  far  concealed  by  the 
hood  that  we  could  not  see  his  features,  but  I  knew  at. 
once  that  this  was  the  man  we  had  come  to  see,  and  I  like- 
wise recognized  his  identity  as  that  of  a  celebrated  Vene- 
tian painter  whom  I  had  known  in  my  youth,  though  not 
very  intimately.  "We  had  not  met  again  and  I  was  ignor- 
ant that  he  had  passed  from  earth,  till  I  saw  him  sitting 
thus  upon  the  bridge  in  this  city  of  Hell.  I  confess  the 
recognition  gave  me  somewhat  of  a  shock,  recalling  as  it 
did  those  days  of  my  youth  when  I  also  was  a  student  of 
art  with  all  the  fairest  prospects  in  life,  as  it  would  seem, 
before  us,  and  now  to  see  him  and  to  think  what  his  life 
must  have  been  to  bring  him  to  this  pass.  He  did  not  see 
us,  so  Faithful  Friend  proposed  that  we  should  turn  aside 


190     A  WAN  DEREK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

for  a  little,  while  he  told  me  this  spirit's  history,  and  then 
we  could  approach  together  and  speak  to  him.  It  seemed 
that  this  man  (whom  I  shall  call  by  his  spirit  name  of 
Benedetto,  since  his  earthly  one  is  better  to  be  forgotten) 
had  risen  rapidly  into  fame  after  I  knew  him,  and  had 
been  fairly  successful  in  selling  his  pictures.  But  Italy  is 
not  now  a  rich  country,  and  Benedetto's  most  wealthy 
patrons  were  the  English  and  Americans  who  came  to 
visit  Venice,  and  at  the  house  of  one  of  them  Benedetto 
met  the  woman  who  was  to  overshadow  his  whole  life  with 
her  baneful  influence.  He  was  young,  handsome,  talented, 
highly  educated,  and  of  an  ancient  though  poor  family, 
and  therefore  naturally  received  by  all  the  best  society  in 
Venice.  It  wras  to  a  lady  who  belonged  to  the  higher 
ranks  of  this  social  sphere  that  Benedetto  lost  his  heart, 
and  dreamed  in  his  youthful  and  romantic  foolishness  that 
she  would  be  content  to  become  the  wife  of  a  struggling 
•  artist  with  nothing  but  his  brains  and  a  growing  reputa- 
tion. The  lady  was  scarce  twenty  when  they  first  met, 
very  beautiful,  perfect  alike  in  face  and  form,  and  en- 
dowed with  all  the  charms  which  can  enslave  the  heart  of 
man — and  she  encouraged  Benedetto  in  every  way,  so 
that,  poor  youth,  he  believed  her  love  to  be  as  sincere  as 
his.  But  with  all  the  passionate  thirst  of  her  nature  for 
admiration  and  love  she  was  cold,  calculating,  ambitious, 
and  worldly;  incapable  of  either  understanding  or  return- 
ing such  a  love  as  she  inspired  in  a  nature  like  Bene- 
detto's, which  knows  love  or  hate  only  in  extremes.  She 
was  flattered  by  his  attentions,  charmed  by  his  passionate 
devotion,  and  proud  of  having  made  conquest  of  one  so 
handsome  and  so  gifted,  but  she  had  no  idea  of  sacrificing 
anything  for  his  sake,  and  even  when  she  was  most  tender, 
most  alluring  to  him,  she  was  striving  with  all  her  arts  to 
become  the  wife  of  a  middle-aged  Venetian  nobleman, 
whose  wealth  and  position  she  coveted  even  while  she 
despised  the  man  himself. 

The  end  of  Benedetto's  dream  came  all  too  soon.    He 
ventured  to  lay  his  heart  and  all  his  prospects  at  the  feet 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     191 

of  his  inamorata,  pouring  into  her  ears  all  the  love  and 
devotion  of  his  soul. 

"And  she?" 

"Well,  she  received  it  all  very  coolly,  told  him  not  to 
be  a  fool,  explained  to  him  how  impossible  it  was  that  she 
could  do  without  money  and  position,  and,  in  fine,  dis- 
missed him  with  a  calm  indifference  to  his  sufferings 
which  nearly  drove  him  mad.  He  fled  from  Venice,  went 
to  Paris,  and  there  plunged  into  all  the  dissipations  of 
that  gay  capital,  striving  to  bury  the  recollection  of  his 
unfortunate  passion.  They  did  not  meet  for  some  years, 
and  then  Benedetto's  fate  took  him  back  to  Venice  once 
more,  cured,  as  he  hoped,  and  prepared  to  despise  himseli 
for  his  folly.  He  had  now  become  famous  as  a  painter, 
and  could  almost  command  his  own  price  for  his  pictures. 
He  found  that  the  lady  had  duly  married  the  Marchese 
and  was  reigning  as  a  society  beauty  and  a  queen  of 
fashion,  surrounded  by  a  crowd  of  admirers  whom  she  did 
not  always  feel  it  necessary  to  introduce  to  her  husband. 
Benedetto  had  resolved  to  treat  the  lady  with  cool  indiffer- 
ence should  they  meet,  but  this  was  not  her  intention. 
Once  her  slave,  always  so — no  lover  should  dare  to  break 
her  chain  till  she  chose  to  dismiss  him.  She  devoted  her- 
self once  more  to  the  subjugation  of  Benedetto's  heart, 
and,  alas!  that  heart  was  only  too  ready  to  surrender  when 
she  told  him,  with  every  accent  of  feeling  in  her  voice, 
how  she  regretted  now  the  path  she  had  chosen.  Thus 
Benedetto  became  her  unacknowledged  lover,  and  for  a 
time  he  lived  in  a  state  of  intoxication  of  happiness.  But 
only  for  a  time.  The  lady  tired  of  everyone  after  a  little, 
she  liked  fresh  conquests,  new  slaves  to  do  her  homage. 
She  liked  excitement,  and  Benedetto  with  his  jealousy, 
his  eternal  devotion,  grew  tiresome,  his  presence  weari- 
some. Moreover  there  was  another  admirer,  young,  rich, 
handsome  also,  and  the  Marchesa  preferred  him,  and  told 
Benedetto  so,  gave  him,  in  fact,  his  conge  for  the  second 
time.  His  passionate  reproaches,  his  violent  protesta- 
tions, his  vehement  anger  all  annoyed  the  lady  greatly;  as 
she  grew  colder,  more  insolent  towards  him,  he  grew  more 


192    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

excited.  He  threatened,  lie  implored,  be  vowed  he  would 
shoot  himself  if  she  proved  false  to  him,  and  finally  after 
a  violent  scene  they  parted  and  Benedetto  went  home. 
When  he  called  next  day  he  was  told  by  the  servant  that 
the  Marchcsa  declined  to  see  him  again.  The  insolence 
of  a  message  thus  given  him,  the  heartlessness  of  the  Mar- 
chesa,  the  hitter  shame  of  being  a  second  time  trifled  with 
and  flung  aside  like  an  old  glove,  were  too  much  for  his 
passionate  fiery  nature,  and  he  went  back  to  his  studio  and 
blew  out  his  brains. 

'"When  his  spirit  awoke  to  consciousness  it  was  to  all 
the  horrors  of  finding  himself  a  prisoner  in  his  coffin  in 
the  grave.  He  had  destroyed  his  material  body  but  he 
could  not  free  his  spirit  from  it,  till  the  decaying  of  that 
body  should  liberate  the  soul.  Those  loathsome  particles 
of  that  corrupting  body  still  clothed  the  spirit,  the  link 
between  them  was  not  severed. 

"Oh,  the  horror  of  such  a  fate!  can  anyone  hear  of  it 
and  not  shudder  to  think  what  the  bitter  weariness  and 
discontent  of  life,  and  a  reckless  desire  to  be  free  of  it  at 
any  cost,  may  plunge  the  soul  into.  If  those  on  earth 
would  be  truly  merciful  to  the  suicide  they  would  cremate 
his  body,  not  bury  it,  that  the  soul  may,  by  the  speedy 
dispersal  of  the  particles,  be  the  sooner  freed  from  such  a 
prison.  The  soul  of  a  suicide  is  not  ready  to  leave  the 
bod)r,  it  is  like  an  unripe  fruit  and  does  not  fall  readily 
from  the  material  tree  which  is  nourishing  it.  A  great 
shock  has  cast  it  forth,  but  it  still  remains  attached,  till 
the  sustaining  link  shall  wither  away. 

"From  time  to  time  Benedetto  would  lapse  into  un- 
consciousness and  lose  for  a  little  the  sense  of  his  terrible 
position,  and  from  these  states  of  merciful  oblivion  he 
would  awaken  to  find  that  little  by  little  the  earthly  body 
was  losing  its  hold  upon  the  spirit  and  crumbling  into 
dust,  but  while  it  did  so  he  had  to  suffer  in  all  his  nerves 
the  pangs  of  this  gradual  dissolution.  The  sudden  de- 
struction of  the  earthly  body,  while  it  would  have  given 
his  spirit  a  more  violent,  more  painful  shock,  would  at 
least  have  spared  him  the  slow  torture  of  this  lingering 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     193 

decay.  At  last  the  material  body  ceased  to  hold  the  spirit, 
and  he  rose  from  the  grave  but  still  hung  over  it,  tied, 
though  no  longer  imprisoned;  then  the  last  link  snapped 
and  he  was  free  to  wander  forth  into  the  earth  plane.  And 
first  his  powers  of  hearing  and  seeing  and  feeling  were 
most  feebly  developed,  then  gradually  they  unfolded  and 
he  became  conscious  of  his  surroundings.  With  these 
powers  came  again  the  passions  and  desires  of  his  earthly 
life  and  also  the  knowledge  of  how  he  could  yet  gratify 
them.  And  again  as  in  his  earthly  life  he  sought  oblivion 
for  his  sorrow  and  bitterness  in  the  pleasures  of  the  senses. 
But  he  sought  in  vain.  Memory  was  ever  present  with 
him  torturing  him  with  the  past.  In  his  soul  there  was  a 
wild  hunger,  a  fierce  thirst  for  revenge,  for  power  to  make 
her  suffer  as  he  had  done,  and  the  very  intensity  of  his 
thoughts  at  last  carried  him  to  where  she  was.  He  found 
her  as  of  old,  surrounded  by  her  little  court  of  gay  ad- 
mirers. A  little  older  but  still  the  same,  still  as  heartless, 
still  untroubled  by  his  fate  and  indifferent  to  it.  And  it 
maddened  him  to  think  of  the  sufferings  he  had  brought 
upon  himself  for  the  love  of  this  woman.  At  last  all 
thoughts  became  merged  in  the  one  thought  of  how  he 
could  find  means  to  drag  her  down  from  her  position,  how 
strip  her  of  all  those  things  which  she  prized  more  than 
love  or  honor  or  even  the  lives  of  those  who  might  be 
called  her  victims. 

"And  he  succeeded,  for  spirits  have  more  powers  than 
mortals  dream  of.  Step  by  step  he  saw  her  come  down 
from  her  proud  position,  losing  first  wealth,  then  honor, 
stripped  of  every  disguise  she  had  worn,  and  known  for 
what  she  was,  a  vile  temptress  who  played  with  men's 
souls  as  one  plays  with  dice,  careless  how  many  hearts  she 
broke,  how  many  lives  she  ruined,  careless  alike  of  her 
husband's  honor  and  her  own  fair  fame,  so  long  as  she 
could  hide  her  intrigues  from  the  eyes  of  the  world  and 
rise  a  step  higher  in  wealth  and  power  upon  the  body  of 
each  new  victim. 

"And  even  in  his  darkness  and  misery  Benedetto 
hugged  himself  and  was  comforted  to  think  it  was  his 
hands  that  were  dragging  her  down  and  tearing  the  mask 


1 94    A  WAX DERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

from  her  beauty  and  her  worldliness.  She  wondered  how 
it  was  that  so  many  events  all  tended  to  one  end — her 
ruin.  How  it  was  that  her  most  carefully  laid  schemes 
were  thwarted,  her  most  jealously  guarded  secrets  found 
out  and  held  up  to  the  light  of  day.  She  began  at  last  to 
tremble  at  what  each  day  might  bring  forth.  It  was  as 
though  some  unseen  agency,  whose  toils  she  could  not 
escape,  was  at  work  to  crush  her,  and  then  she  thought  of 
Benedetto  and  his  last  threats  that  if  she  drove  him  to 
despair  he  would  send  himself  to  Hell  and  drag  her  with 
him.  She  had  thought  then  he  meant  to  murder  her  per- 
haps, and  when  she  heard  he  had  shot  himself  and  was 
dead,  she  felt  relieved  and  soon  forgot  him,  save  when 
some  event  would  recall  him  to  her  mind  for  a  moment. 
And  now  she  was  always  thinking  of  him,  she  could  not 
get  away  from  the  obtrusive  thought,  and  she  began  to 
shudder  with  fear  lest  he  should  rise  from  his  grave  and 
haunt  her. 

"And  all  the  time  there  stood  Benedetto's  spirit  be- 
side her,  w'hispering  in  her  ears  and  telling  her  that  this 
was  his  revenge  come  to  him  at  last.  He  whispered  to  her 
of  the  past  and  of  that  love  that  had  seemed  so  sweet  and 
that  had  turned  to  bitterest  burning  hate,  consuming  him 
as  with  the  fire  of  Hell  whose  flames  should  scorch  her 
soul  also  and  drive  her  to  a  despair  as  great  as  his. 

"And  her  mind  felt  this  haunting  presence  even 
while  her  bodily  eyes  could  see  nothing.  In  vain  she  fled 
to  society,  to  all  places  where  there  were  crowds  of  men 
and  women,  in  order  to  escape;  the  haunting  presence  was 
with  her  everywhere:  Day  by  day  it  grew  more  distinct, 
more  real,  a  something  from  which  there  was  no  escape. 

"At  last  one  evening  in  the  dim  grey  of  twilight  she 
saw  him,  with  his  wild  menacing  eyes,  his  fierce,  passion- 
ate hate,  expressing  itself  in  every  line  of  his  face,  in  every 
gesture  of  his  form.  The  shock  was  too  much  for  her 
overwrought  nerves  and  she  fell  dead  upon  the  floor.  And 
then  Benedetto  knew  that  he  had  succeeded  and  had 
killed  her,  and  that  from  henceforth  the  brand  of  Cain 
was  stamped  upon  his  brow. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     195 

"Then  a  horror  of  himself  seized  upon  him,  he 
loathed  the  deed  he  had  done.  He  had  intended  to  kill 
her  and  then  when  the  spirit  left  the  body  to  drag  it  down 
with  him  and  to  haunt  and  torment  it  forever,  so  that  on 
neither  side  of  the  grave  should  she  know  rest.  But  now 
his  only  thought  was  to  escape  from  himself  and  the 
horror  of  his  success,  for  all  good  was  not  dead  in  this 
man,  and  the  shock  which  had  killed  the  Marchesa  had 
awakened  him  to  the  true  nature  of  his  revengeful  feel- 
ings. Then  he  fled  from  the  earth,  down  and  down  even 
to  this  city  of  Hell,  the  fit  dwelling-place  for  such  as  he. 

"It  was  in  this  place  that  I  found  him,"  said  Faithful 
Friend,  "and  was  able  to  help  the  now  repentant  man  and 
to  show  him  how  he  might  best  undo  the  wrong  he  had 
done.  He  awaits  now  the  coming  of  this  woman  he  so 
loved  and  hated,  in  order  that  he  may  ask  her  to  forgive 
him  and  that  he  may  forgive  her  himself.  She  has  also 
been  drawn  to  this  sphere,  for  her  own  life  was  very 
guilty,  and  it  is  in  this  counterpart  of  that  city  which  saw 
the  history  of  their  earthly  love  that  they  will  meet  again, 
and  that  is  why  he  awaits  her  upon  this  bridge  where  in 
the  past  she  has  so  often  met  him." 

"And  will  she  meet  him  soon?" 

"Yes!  very  soon,  and  then  will  the  sojourn  of  this 
man  in  this  sphere  be  over,  and  he  will  be  free  to  pass  to 
a  higher  one,  where  his  troubled  spirit  shall  at  last  know 
a  season  of  rest  ere  it  mounts  by  slow  and  painful  steps  the 
stony  pathway  of  progression." 

"Will  she,  too,  leave  here  with  him?" 

"No,  oh  no!  she  will  be  also  helped  to  progress,  but 
their  paths  will  lie  widely  asunder.  There  was  no  true 
affinity  between  them,  only  passion,  and  pride,  and 
wounded  self-love.    They  will  part  here  to  meet  no  more." 

We  now  drew  near  Benedetto,  and  as  I  touched  him 
on  the  shoulder  he  started  and  turned  round  but  at  first 
did  not  recognize  me.  Then  I  made  myself  known  and 
said  how  I  should  rejoice  to  renew  our  early  friendship  in 
those  higher  spheres  in  which  I  hoped  we  would  both  soon 
meet  again.     I  told  him  briefly  that  I,  too,  had  sinned  and 


19G     A  WANDEEE5  IX  THESPIRIT  LANDS. 

suffered,  and  was  working  my  way  upwards  now.  He 
Beemed  glad  to  sec  me  and  wrung  my  hand  with  much 
emotion  when  we  said  good-bye,  and  tnen  Faithful  Friend 
and  1  went  away,  leaving  him  still  seated  upon  the  bridge 
waiting  for  his  last  interview  with  her  who  had  been  once 
so  dear  to  him  and  who  was  now  but  a  painful  memory. 

As  we  were  on  our  road  from  Venice  to  those  plains 
which  I  now  understood  to  be  the  spiritual  replica  of  the 
plains  of  Lombardy,  my  attention  was  suddenly  attracted 
by  a  voice  calling  to  me  in  a  pitiful  tone  for  help.  Turn- 
ing back  a  little  way  to  my  right  hand  I  saw  a  couple  of 
spirits  lying  apparently  helpless  upon  the  ground,  and 
one  was  making  gestures  to  cause  me  to  come  to  him.  So 
thinking  it  was  some  one  in  need  of  my  help  I  let  my 
companion  go  on  and  went  to  see  what  he  wanted.  The 
spirit  holding  out  his  hand  to  me  and  murmuring  some- 
thing about  helping  him  to  rise,  I  bent  down  to  lift  him 
up,  when  to  my  surprise  he  made  a  clutch  at  my  legs  with 
his  hands  and  contrived  to  fasten  his  teeth  in  my  arm. 
While  the  other  one,  suddenly  jumping  up,  tried  to  fasten 
upon  my  throat  like  a  wolf. 

With  some  trouble,  and  a  good  deal  of  anger  on  my 
part,  I  confess,  I  shook  myself  free  of  them  and  was 
stepping  back,  when  I  half  stumbled,  and  turning  my 
head  saw  that  a  great  pit  had  suddenly  opened  behind  me 
into  which  with  another  step  backwards  I  must  have 
fallen. 

Then  I  remembered  the  warnings  given  me  not  to 
allow  my  lower  passions  to  be  aroused  and  thus  place 
myself  upon  a  level  with  these  beings,  and  I  regretted  my 
momentary  burst  of  anger  and  resolved  to  keep  calm  and 
cool.  I  turned  towards  the  two  dark  spirits  again  and 
saw  that  the  one  who  I  fancied  had  been  hurt  was  crawl- 
ing along  the  ground  to  reach  me,  while  the  other  was 
gathering  himself  together  like  a  wild  beast  about  to 
spring.  I  fixed  my  eyes  steadily  upon  the  pair,  whom  I 
now  recognized  as  the  man  with  the  withered  hand  and 
his  friend,  who  had  tried  to  deceive  me  with  the  false  mes- 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     197 

sage  a  short  time  before..  Steadily  I  looked  at  them, 
throwing  all  the  power  of  my  will  into  the  determination 
that  they  should  not  advance  nearer  to  me.  As  I  did  so 
they  faltered  and  stopped,  and  finally  rolled  over  on  the 
ground  snarling  and  showing  their  teeth  like  a  couple  of 
wolves,  but  unable  to  approach  a  step  nearer.  Leaving 
them  thus  I  hurried  after  Faithful  Friend — whom  I  soon 
overtook — and  narrated  to  him  what  had  occurred. 

lie  laughed  and  said,  "I  could  have  told  you  who 
those  were,  Franchezzo,  but  I  felt  it  would  be  no  harm  to 
let  you  find  out  for  yourself,  and  likewise  learn  how 
valuable  a  protection  your  own  force  of  character  and 
determination  could  be.  You  are  naturally  strong  willed, 
and  so  long  as  you  do  not  vise  it  to  domineer  over  the  just 
rights  of  others  it  is  a  most  useful  and  valuable  quality, 
and  in  your  work  in  the  spirit  world  you  will  have  found 
that  it  is  the  great  lever  by  which  you  can  act,  not  alone 
upon  those  round  you  but  even  upon  apparently  inani- 
mate matter,  and  I  thought  as  those  two  are  very  likely 
to  come  across  you  from  time  to  time  you  might  as  well 
settle  now  which  should  be  master,  which  should  be  the 
dominant  personality.  They  will  be  shy  of  directly  med- 
dling with  you  again,  but  so  long  as  you  work  about  the 
earth  plane  you  will  find  them  ready  at  any  chance  to 
thwart  your  plans  if  the  opportunity  comes.'" 


198     A  WAKDEBEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

"We  now  saw  before  us  a  vast  slightly  undulating 
plain  upon  which  great  masses  of  dark  spirits  were 
moving.  At  Faithful  Friend's  suggestion  we  ascended  a 
small  hillock  that  we  might  observe  their  movements. 

"We  are  now,"  said  Faithful  Friend,  "about  to  wit- 
ness one  of  the  great  battles  that  take  place  here  between 
the  opposing  forces  of  dark  spirits  whose  delight  was  in 
war  and  its  rapine  and  bloodshed,  and  who,  here  in  the 
dark  state  which  is  the  result  of  their  earthly  cruelty  and 
ambition,  carry  on  yet  their  warlike  operations  against 
each  other  and  contend  for  the  supremacy  of  these  king- 
doms of  Hell.  Behold  how  they  are  massing  their  forces 
for  an  attack  upon  those  others  on  our  right,  and  observe 
the  skill  they  will  display  in  their  maneuvres.  The 
powerful  minds  of  men  who  swayed  armies  on  earth  sway 
such  unhappy  beings  here  as  are  not  strong  enough  to 
resist  their  spell,  and  thus  they  force  these  less  powerful 
spirits  to  fight  under  their  banners  whether  they  will  or 
not,  just  as  they  did  with  mortals  on  earth.  You  will  see 
these  powerful  leaders  engage  in  a  struggle  worse  ihan 
deadly  since  no  death  can  come  to  end  the  contest,  which 
they  renew  over  and  over  again,  as  it  would  almost  seem 
eternally — or  until,  as  is  to  be  hoped,  the  satiety  of  mind 
of  one  or  other  of  these  powerful  leaders  will  at  last  make 
him  long  for  some  nobler  form  of  contest,  some  higher 
triumph  of  the  soul  than  is  won  over  these  miserable  be- 
ings in  battles  where  victory  gives  only  a  fresh  right  to 
torture  and  oppress  the  vanquished.     The  same  instincts 


A  WANDEEEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     199 

and  natural  gifts  which  are  now  perverted  to  personal 
ambition  and  the  lust  for  cruelty  and  dominion  as  their 
only  aim,  will,  when  purified,  make  these  spirits  mighty 
helpers,  where  now  they  are  destroyers,  and  the  same 
powers  of  AVill  will  help  forward  the  progress  they  now 
retard.  When  this  progress  shall  take  place  depends,  for 
each,  upon  the  latent  nobility  of  the  soul  itself — the 
awakening  of  the  dormant  love  of  goodness  and  justice 
and  truth  to  be  found  in  all.  Though  like  seeds  in  the 
earth  these  germs  of  better  things  may  lie  long  hidden 
beneath  the  mass  of  evil  that  overloads  them,  there  must 
and  does  come  a  time  for  each  when  the  better  soul 
awakens  and  these  germs  of  good  send  out  shoots  that  lead 
to  repentance  and  bring  forth  an  abounding  harvest  of 
virtue  and  good  works." 

"We  looked  over  the  vast  plain  and  now  beheld  the 
two  mighty  hosts  of  spirits  drawn  up  to  confront  one 
another  in  the  array  of  battle.  Here  and  there  I  beheld 
powerful  spirits,  leading  each  his  band  or  regiment  as  in 
an  earthly  army.  In  the  van  of  the  opposing  forces  were 
two  majestic  beings  who  might  have  been  models  for 
Milton's  Lucifer,  so  strong  was  the  sense  of  power  and 
high  intellect  with  which  they  impressed  me.  In  each 
there  was  a  certain  beauty  and  grandeur  of  form  and  fea- 
ture— a  regal  majesty  even  in  the  degradation  of  Hell — 
but  alas!  the  beauty  was  that  of  a  wild  fierce  tiger  or  lion 
that  watches  how  he  may  rend  his  enemy  in  pieces  and 
drag  his  prey  into  his  den.  Dark  and  forbidding  were 
their  countenances,  cruel  and  ferocious  their  gleaming 
eyes,  the  false  smile  showing  their  sharp  teeth  like  those 
animals  of  prey.  The  cunning  of  the  serpent-was  in  their 
looks,  and  the  pitiless  hunger  of  the  vulture  in  their  smile. 
Each  rode  in  his.  chariot  of  war  drawn,  not  by  horses,  but 
by  the  spirits  of  degraded  men,  whom  they  lashed  forward 
as  beasts  of  burden  and  drove  furiously  on  to  be  trampled 
down  in  the  melee  as  cattle.  Wild  strains  of  music  that 
sounded  like  the  shrieks  of  the  souls  of  the  damned  and 
the  thunders  of  a  mighty  storm  broke  from  the  assembled 
armies,  and  with  one  fell  swoop  they  rushed  forward  and 


200    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

bore  down  upon  each  other — flying  and  hurrying  through 
the  air,  or  dragging  themselves  along  the  ground.  Push- 
ing, hustling,  jostling,  and  trampling  like  a  herd  of  wild 
animals — on  they  came,  and  as  they  met,  their  fierce  cries 
and  shouts  and  imprecations  rent  the  air  and  made  even 
Hell  more  hideous.  They  charged  and  re-charged,  they 
maneuvered,  marched,  and  counter-marched,  these  phan- 
tom spirit  armies  of  the  dead,  even  as  they  had  done  in 
the  hattles  of  earth  life.  They  fought  and  wrestled  like 
demons,  not  men,  for  they  had  no  weapons  save  those  of 
wild  beasts — their  teeth  and  claws.  If  a  battle  with 
mortal  weapons  is  horrible,  this  was  doubly  so,  where  they 
fought  as  wolves  and  tigers  might — the  two  powerful 
leaders  directing  the  mass,  urging  them  on  and  guiding 
the  fight  as  the  tide  of  battle  swept  back  one  side  or 
the  other. 

Over  all  had  towered  these  two  dark  regal  spirits,  and 
'  now  no  longer  content  to  let  their  soldiers  fight,  but  bent 
each  upon  the  destruction  of  the  other,  they  rose  from  the 
fighting  mass,  and,  soaring  high  above  them,  turned  their 
looks  upon  each  other  with  deadliest  hate — then  flying 
through  the  air  with  their  dark  robes  extended  behind 
and  above  them  like  wings,  they  grappled  and  wrestled 
together  in  a  fierce  struggle  for  supremacy.  It  was  as 
though  two  eagles  fought  in  mid-air  while  a  mass  of  car- 
rion crows  grubbed  and  fought  for  worms  beneath  them. 
I  turned  from  the  crows  to  watch  the  eagles  and  to  mark 
how,  with  no  weapons  but  their  hands  and  their  powerful 
wills  they  fought  as  wild  beasts  do  in  a  forest. 

They  uttered  no  sound,  no  cry,  but  gripped  each 
other  with  a  death-grip  that  neither  would  relax,  and 
swayed  to  and  fro  in  the  air  before  us.  Now  one  upward, 
now  the  other,  their  fierce  eyes  stabbing  each  other  with 
fiery  darts — their  hot  breath  scorching  each  other's 
faces — their  fingers  clutching  at  each  other's  throats,  and 
both  seeking  for  a  chance  to  fasten  on  their  enemy  with 
their  teeth.  Backwards  and  forwards,  up  and  down  they 
swayed  and  writhed  in  what  seemed  to  me  a  death  struggle 
for  both.     At  last  one  seemed  to  fail.     He  sank  below  the 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     201 

other,  who  was  hearing  him  to  the  ground  to  dash  him, 
as  I  saw,  over  a  deep  precipice  into  a  chasm  in  the  rocks 
that  skirted  the  field  of  battle— a  deep  and  dark  and  awful 
pit  into  which  he  meant  to  hurl  the  vanquished  one,  and 
keep  him  prisoner.  Fierce  and  long  was  the  struggle,  for 
the  one  below  would  not  give  in  and  clung  to  the  other  to 
drag  him  down  with  him  if  possible.  But  in  vain.  His 
powers  were  failing  fast  and  as  they  reached  the  black 
chasm  and  hung  poised  over  it,  I  saw  the  uppermost  one 
wrench  himself  free  by  a  mighty  effort  and  fling  the  other 
from  him,  down  into  those  awful  depths. 

With  a  shudder  I  turned  away  and  saw  that  the  battle 
had  been  raging  as  fiercely  on  the  plain.  Those  spectral 
hosts  had  fought  and  the' army  of  the  victorious  general 
had  beaten  back  the  forces  of  his  vanquished  foe  till  they 
were  broken  and  dispersed  in  all  directions,  leaving  their 
disabled  comrades  on  the  field  lying  as  wounded  men  do 
in  an  earthly  battle,  while  the  victors  were  dragging  away 
with  them  their  captives,  to  what  fate  I  could  only  too 
well  guess. 

Sickened  and  disgusted  with  their  brutishness  I 
would  fain  have  left  this  place,  but  Faithful  Friend, 
touching  my  shoulder,  said:  "ISTow  has  come  the  time  for 
our  work,  my  friend.  Let  us  descend  yonder  and  see  if 
there  are  none  whom  we  can  help.  Amongst  the  fallen 
and  vanquished  we  may  find  those  who  are  as  sick  of  war 
and  its  horrors  as  you,  and  who  will  be  but  too  glad  of  our 
help."     So  we  went  down  to  the  plain. 

It  was  as  might  have  been  a  battle-field  when  night 
has  fallen  upon  it  and  there  are  but  the  wounded  and  the 
slain  left  behind.  All  the  other  spirits  had  gone  like  a 
flock  of  evil  birds  to  seek  fresh  carrion.  I  stood  among 
a  writhing,  moaning  mass  of  beings  and  knew  not  where 
to  begin  my  help — there  were  so  many.  It  was  worse — 
a  thousand  times  worse — than  any  mortal  battle-field.  I 
have  seen  the  dead  and  dying  lying  in  the  streets  of  my 
native  town  thick  as  fallen  leaves,  and  my  heart  has  ached 
and  bled  for  them  and  burned  with  shame  and  anger  that 
such  things  could  be;  but  even  there  was  at  least  the  peace 


202     A  WANDEBEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

and  sleep  of  death  to  soften  the  anguish,  and  there  was  the 
hope  of  helping  those  who  yet  lived.  But  here — in  this 
awful  Hell — there  seemed  no  hope  and  no  death  that 
could  relieve  these  suffering  ones,  no  morning  that  should 
dawn  upon  the  night  of  their  miseries.  If  they  revived 
would  it  not  be  to  live  again  this  awful  life,  to  find  them- 
selves surrounded  ever  by  this  awful  night,  and  these 
fierce  wild  beasts  of  men? 

I  stooped  down  and  tried  to  raise  the  head  of  one 
poor  wretch  who  lay  moaning  at  my  feet — crushed  till  his 
spirit-body  seemed  but  a  shapeless  mass — and  as  I  did  so 
the  mysterious  Voice  spoke  in  my  ears  and  said: 

"Even  in  Hell  there  is  Hope  or  why  else  are  you 
come?  The  darkest  hour  is  ever  before  the  dawn,  and  for 
these — the  vanquished  and  the  fallen — has  come  the  hour 
of  their  change.  The  very  cause  that  has  made  them  to 
be  thus  borne  down  and  trampled  under  is  that  which 
shall  now  raise  them.  The  desire  for  higher  and  better 
things,  the  shrinking  from  the  evil  around  them  has  ren- 
dered them  weak  in  the  wickedness  which  is  the  strength 
of  Hell  and  its  inhabitants,  and  has  made  them  waver  and 
hesitate  to  thrust  at  and  harm  another  with  the  ruthless 
force  of  these  other  wild  and  worthless  beings,  and  thus 
they  have  been  borne  down  and  vanquished,  but  their  fall 
from  power  here  will  open  to  them  the  doors  of  a  higher 
state  and  thus  shall  there  dawn  for  them  the  grey  glimmer 
of  a  Higher  Hope.  Mourn  not  for  them  but  seek  to  ease 
their  sufferings  that  they  may  sink  into  a  sleep  of  Death 
to  this  sphere  and  waken  to  a  new  life  in  the  sphere  next 
above." 

"^.nd  what,"  I  asked,  "of  that  powerful  spirit  whom 
I  saw  thrown  into  the  dark  chasm?" 

"He  too  will  be  helped  in  time,  but  his  soul  is  not 
yet  ripe  for  help,  and  it  is  of  no  use  to  try  till  then." 

The  Voice  ceased  and  Faithful  Friend,  who  was  be- 
side me,  made  signs  to  show  me  how  to  soothe  these  weary 
ones  to  sleep,  and  pointed  out  to  me  numerous  stars  of 
light  which  had  gathered  on  that  field  of  pain,  and  said 
they  were  carried  by  those  of  our  Brotherhood  who  were, 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    203 

like  ourselves,  drawn  here  on  their  mission  of  Love  and 
Mercy. 

Ere  long  the  writhing,  moaning  forms  had  sunk  into 
unconsciousness  and  a  short  time  after  I  saw  a  sight  that 
was  strange  and  wonderful  indeed.  Over  each  silent  form 
there  rose  a  faint  misty  floating  vapor,  such  as  I  had  seen 
once  before  in  the  case  of  a  spirit  we  had  rescued,  as  I 
have  already  told.  Gradually  these  vapors  took  shape 
and  solidity  and  assumed  the  form  of  the  released  spirit 
or  soul,  then  each  was  borne  away  by  bands  of  bright 
ethereal  spirits — who  had  gathered  above  our  heads — till 
the  last  was  gone  and  our  work  and  theirs  was  done. 


204    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

I  now  perceived  that  those  Brothers  of  Hope,  who 
like  myself  had  been  assisting  the  poor  wounded  spirits, 
all  belonged  to  the  same-  company  as  myself,  and  they 
were  all  collecting  together,  the  little  starry  lights  we  each 
carried  looking  indeed  like  emblems  of  hope  in  darkness. 
Faithful  Friend  and  I  joined  the  others  and  were  soon 
interchanging  greetings  and  congratulations,  like  a 
brigade  of  soldiers  about  to  return  home  after  a  success- 
ful campaign. 

Before  we  again  passed  through  the  fiery  ring  that 
encompassed  this  region,  the  leader  of  our  band  con- 
ducted us  to  the  top  of  a  high  pinnacle  of  rock  from  which 
we  beheld  the  cities  and  plains  and  mountains  of  that 
Land  of  Darkness,  through  which  each  of  us  had  passed 
in  our  pilgrimage.  And  standing  on  that  mountain  peak 
we  could  survey  the  mighty  panorama  of  Hell  stretched 
out  at  our  feet.  He  then  addressed  us  in  grave,  solemn 
tones: 

"This  scene  upon  which  we  look  is  but  a  small,  a  very 
small,  fractional  portion  of  the  great  sphere  which  men 
have  been  wont  to  speak  of  as  'Hell/  There  are  dark 
spheres  above  this  which  may  seem  to  many  to  deserve 
the  name  until  they  have  seen  this  place  and  learned  in  it 
how  low  a  soul  can  sink  and  how  much  more  terrible  in 
this  sphere  can  be  both  the  crimes  and  the  sufferings. 
The  great  belt  of  dark  matter  of  which  is  composed  this, 
the  lowest  of  the  earth  spheres,  extends  for  many  million 
miles  around  us,  and  has  received  within  its  borders  all 


A  WANDEREK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     205 

those  multitudes  of  sinful  souls  whose  material  lives  have 
been  passed  on  earth,  and  whose  existences  date  back  to 
the  remote  far-off  ages  in  which  the  planet  Earth  first 
began  to  bear  its  harvest  of  conscious  immortals,  destined 
to  sin  and  suffer  and  work  out  each  their  own  salvation 
till  they  should  be  purified  from  all  earthly  stain — all 
taint  of  their  lower  nature.  The  multitudes  of  such  lives 
have  been,  and  shall  yet  be,  as  the  stars  of  the  sky  and  the 
sands  of  the  sea  in  number,  and  as  each  builds  for  himself 
his  own  habitation  in  the  higher  or  in  the  lower  spheres, 
so  are  the  vast  spheres  peopled  and  their  many  dwelling 
places  and  cities  formed. 

"Far  beyond  the  power  of  any  mortal  to  carry  even 
his  thoughts,  lie  the  myriad  dwelling  places  of  the 
spheres,  each  spot  or  locality  bearing  upon  it  the  in- 
dividual stamp  of  the  spirit  whose  life  has  created  it,  and 
as  there  are  no  two  faces,  no  two  minds,  exactly  similar  in 
all  the  countless  beings  that  have  peopled  the  earth — so 
there  are  no  two  places  in  the  spirit  world  exactly  alike. 
Each  place — yea,  even  each  sphere — is  the  separate  crea- 
tion of  the  particular  class  of  minds  that  have  created  it, 
and  those  whose  minds  are  in  affinity  being  drawn  to 
each  other  in  the  spirit  world  every  place  will  bear  more 
or  less  the  peculiar  stamp  of  its  inhabitants. 

"Thus  in  giving  a  description  of  this  or  any  other 
sphere  you  will  naturally  be  able  to  tell  only  what  you 
have  seen,  and  to  describe  those  places  to  which  you  were 
attracted,  while  another  spirit  who  has  beheld  a  different 
portion  of  the  same  sphere  may  describe  it  so  very  differ- 
ently that  men  on  earth,  who  limit  all  things  too  much, 
and  measure  them  by  their  own  standards  of  probability, 
will  say  that  since  you  differ  in  describing  the  same 
sphere  you  must  both  be  wrong.  They  forget  that  Eome 
is  not  Genoa,  Milan,  or  Venice,  yet  these  are  all  in  Italy. 
Lyons  is  not  Paris,  yet  both  are  in  France — and  both  will 
bear  certain  characteristic  features,  certain  national  traits 
of  resemblance.  Or  to  extend  the  simile  still  farther,  New 
York  and  Constantinople  are  both  cities  upon  the  planet 
Earth,  yet  there  is  between  them  and  their  population  so 


20G     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

great  a  difference,  so  wide  a  gulf,  that  it  requires  that  we 
should  look  no  longer  for  national  characteristics  hut  only 
for  the  broad  fact  that  both  are  inhabited  by  the  human 
race,  differing,  however  widely,  in  manners  and  ap- 
pearance. 

"And  now  I  would  have  you  each  ohserve  that  in  all 
your  wanderings — in  all  the  sad  sights  you  have  seen — all 
the  unhappy  beings  you  have  known  groveling  in  this 
sink  of  their  own  iniquities,  there  were  yet  the  germs  of 
human  souls  inextinguishable  and  undestroyable,  and  you 
have  each  learned,  I  trust,  that  long  as  may  be  the  proba- 
tion of  the  soul — greatly  as  it  may  retard  the  hour  of  its 
release  by  the  perversion  of  its  powers — yet  to  all  is  given 
the  inalienable  birthright  of  hope,  and  to  each  will  come 
at  last  the  hour  of  awakening,  and  those  who  have  sunk 
to  the  lowest  depths  will  arise  even  as  a  pendulum  swung 
to  its  farthest  limit  will  arise  and  swing  back  again  as 
high  as  it  has  sunk  low. 

"Bitter  and  awful  is  the  reckoning  the  sinful  soul 
must  pay  for  its  wild  indulgence  in  evil,  but  once  paid 
there  is  not  again  that  reckoning  to  be  met,  there  is  no 
inexorable  creditor  whose  ears  are  deaf  to  the  voice  of 
prayer  or  Avho  will  say  to  the  repentant  prodigal,  "Begone, 
for  your  doom  is  sealed  and  the  hour  of  your  redemption 
past.  Oh,  Brethren  of  Hope!  Can  man  in  his  littleness 
measure  the  power  of  the  Almighty  whose  ways  are  past 
his  finding  out?  Can  man  put  a  limit  to  his  mercy  and 
say  it  shall  be  denied  to  any  sorrowful  sinner  however 
deep  has  been  his  sin?  God  alone  can  condemn,  and  he 
alone  can  pardon  and  his  voice  cries  out  to  us  in  every- 
thing, in  every  blade  of  grass  that  grows,  in  every  ray  of 
light  that  shines:  'how  great  is  the  goodness  and  mercy  of 
our  God — how  long-suffering  and  how  slow  to  anger.' 
And  his  voice  calls  with  trumpet  tongue,  through  his 
many  angels  and  ministering  spirits,  to  all  who  repent  and 
seek  for  mercy  that  mercy  is  ever  given — pardon,  full  and 
free,  is  granted  unto  all  who  earnestly  seek  it  and  would 
truly  labor  that  they  may  win  it.  Even  beyond  the  grave, 
even  within  the  gates  of  Hell  itself,  there  is  yet  mercy  and 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     207 

pardon,  yet  hope  and  love  held  out  to  all.  Xot  one  atom 
of  the  immortal  soul  essence  which  has  been  breathed  into 
man  and  become  a  living  conscious  individuality  is  ever 
again  truly  lost,  wholly  doomed  either  to  annihilation  or 
eternal  misery.  They  err,  I  had  almost  said  they  sin,  who 
teach  man  otherwise,  for  by  so  doing  they  shut  a  door 
upon  his  hopes  and  render  the  erring  soul  yet  more  des- 
perate because  more  hopeless,  when,  as  he  deems,  Death 
lias  put  the  final  seal  of  damnation  upon  his  fate.  I 
would  when  each  of  you  returns  to  the  earth  plane  that 
you  proclaim  to  all  this  truth  which  you  have  learned  in 
these  your  wanderings,  and  strive  ever  that  each  and  all 
may  feel  the  sense  of  hope  and  the  need  there,  is  to  take 
heed  to  their  ways  while  there  is  yet  time.  Far  easier 
were  it  for  man  in  his  earth  life  to  undo  his  misdeeds  than 
if  he  wait  till  Death  has  placed  his  barrier  between  him 
and  those  to  whom  he  would  atone. 

"In  those  Hells  which  you  have  seen  all  has  been 
the  outcome  of  men's  own  evil  lives — the  works  of  their 
own  past — either  upon  earth  or  in  its  spheres.  There  is 
nothing  but  what  has  been  the  creation  of  the  soul  itself, 
however  horrible  to  you  may  appear  its  surroundings. 
However  shocked  you  may  have  felt  at  the  spiritual 
appearance  of  these  beings,  yet  must  you  ever  remember 
that  such  as  they  are,  have  they  made  themselves.  God 
has  not  added  one  grain's  weight  to  the  burden  of  any, 
and  equally  must  it  be  the  work  of  each  to  undo  what  he 
has  done,  to  build  up  again  what  he  has  destroyed,  to 
purify  what  he  has  debased.  And  then  will  these 
wretched  dwellings,  these  degraded  forms — these  fearful 
surroundings — be  exchanged  for  brighter  and  happier 
scenes — purer  bodies — more  peaceful  homes,  and  when  at 
last  in  the  fullness  of  time  the  good  on  earth  and  in  its 
spheres  shall  overcome  the  bad,  the  evil  sights  and  evil 
places  will  be  swept  away  as  the  froth  upon  the  sea  is 
swept  on  by  the  advancing  tide,  and  the  pure  Water  of 
Iafe  shall  flow  over  these  spots  and  purify  them  till  these 
solid  black  mountains,  this  dense  heavy  atmosphere,  and 
these  foul  dwelling-places  shall  melt  in  the  strong  purify- 


208    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

ing  fire  of  repentance,  even  as  the  hard  granite  rock  is 
melted  in  the  crucible  of  the  chemist  till  it  is  dissipated 
into  the  atmosphere  and  floated  away  to  form  other  rocks 
elsewhere.  Nothing  is  ever  lost,  nothing  ever  destroyed. 
All  things  are  imperishable.  Those  atoms  which  your 
body  has  attracted  to  it  to-day  are  thrown  off  again  to- 
morrow, and  pass  on  to  form  other  bodies  eternally,  as 
these  emanations  of  men's  spiritual  natures  are  formed 
into  the  earth  spheres,  and  when  there  is  no  longer  mag- 
netism sufficiently  gross  to  hold  together  these  gross  par- 
ticles which  form  the  lower  spheres,  these  atoms  will  be- 
come detached  from  following  the  earth  and  its  sphere  in 
their  rushing  journey  through  the  limitless  ether  of  space, 
and  will  float  in  suspension  in  the  ether  till  drawn  to 
another  planet  whose  spheres  are  congenial  and  whose 
spiritual  inhabitants  are  on  an  equally  gross  plane.  Thus 
these  same  rocks  and  this  country  have  all  formed  in  the 
past  the  lower  spheres  of  other  planets  which  have  now 
grown  too  highly  developed  to  attract  them  and  they  will, 
when  this,  our  earth,  has  ceased  to  attract  them,  be  drawn 
off  and  form  the  spheres  of  some  other  planet. 

"So  too  are  our  higher  spheres  formed  of  matter 
more  etherealized,  yet  still  matter,  which  has  been  cast  off 
from  planet  spheres  much  in  advance  of  ours,  and  in  like 
manner  these  atoms  will  be  left  by  us  and  reabsorbed  in 
turn  by  our  successor.  Nothing  is  lost,  nothing  wasted, 
nothing  is  really  new.  The  things  called  new  are  but  new 
combinations  of  that  which  exists  already,  and  is  in  its 
nature  eternal.  To  what  ultimate  height  of  development 
we  shall  reach,  I  know  not — none  can  know  since  there 
can  be  no  limit  to  our  knowledge  or  our  progress.  But  I 
believe  that  could  we  foresee  the  ultimate  destiny  of  our 
own  small  planet,  as  we  can  in  part  judge  of  it  from  seeing 
the  more  advanced  ones  around  us,  we  should  learn  to 
look  upon  even  the  longest  earthly  life  and  the  longest, 
saddest  probation  of  these  dark  spheres  as  but  stepping 
stones  on  which  man  shall  mount  to  the  thrones  of  angels 
at  last. 

"What  we    can    see — what  we  do  know  and    may 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     209 

grasp — is  the  great  and  ever  present  truth  that  hope  is 
truly  eternal  and  progression  is  ever  possible  even  to  the 
lowest  and  most  degraded  and  sin-stained  soul.  It  is  this 
great  truth  we  would  have  each  of  you  to  preach  both  to 
mortal  and  immortal  man,  when  you  return  to  the  earth 
planes  and  to  your  work  there,  and  as  you  have  been 
helped  and  strengthened  and  taught,  so  do  you  feel  bound 
by  the  obligations  of  gratitude  and  the  ties  of  Universal 
Brotherhood  to  help  others. 

"Let  us  now  bid  farewell  to  this  Dark  Land,  not  in 
sorrow  over  its  sadness  and  its  sins,  but  in  hope  and  with 
earnest  prayer  for  the  future  of  all  who  are  yet  in  the 
bonds  of  suffering  and  sin." 

As  our  great  leader  concluded  his  speech  we  took  our 
last  look  at  the  Dark  Country,  and,  descending  the  moun- 
tain, we  passed  once  more  through  the  Ring  of  Fire, 
which,  as  before,  was  by  our  will  power  driven  back  on 
either  side  of  us  that  we  might  pass  through  in  safety. 

Thus  ended  my  wanderings  in  the  Kingdoms  of  Hell. 


PART    IV. 


Zhe  Gates  of  (Solo. 


A  WAXDEBER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     211 


PART    IV. 

"Gbrougb  tbe  (Bates  of  <Sott>." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

On  our  return  to  the  Land  of  Dawn  we  met  with  a 
right  royal  welcome  from  our  Brotherhood,  and  a  festival 
was  given  in  our  honor. 

On  entering  our  own  little  rooms  each  of  us  found 
a  new  robe  awaiting  him.  It  was  of  a  very  light  grey, 
almost  white  color,  and  the  border,  girdle,  and  device  of 
our  order — an  anchor  and  a  star  upon  the  left  sleeve — 
were  in  deep  golden  yellow. 

I  greatly  prized  this  new  dress  because  in  the  spirit 
world  the  dress  symbolizes  the  state  of  advancement  of 
the  spirit,  and  is  esteemed  as  showing  what  each  one  has 
attained.  "What  I  prized  even  more  than  this  new  dress, 
however,  was  a  most  beautiful  wreath  of  pure  white  spirit 
roses  which  I  found  had  clustered  around  and  framed  the 
magic  picture  of  my  beloved — a  frame  that  never 
withered,  never  faded,  and  whose  fragrance-  was  wafted 
to  me  as  I  reposed  on  the  snow  white  couch  and  gazed 
out  upon  those  peaceful  hills  behind  which  there  shone 
the  dawning  day. 

I  was  aroused  from  my  reverie  by  a  friend  who  came 
to  summon  me  to  the  festival,  and  on  entering  the  great 
hall  I  found  my  father  and  some  friends  of  my  wander- 


212    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

ings  awaiting  me.  We  greeted  one  another  with  much 
emotion,  and  after  we  had  enjoyed  a  banquet  similar  to 
the  one  I  have  described  on  my  first  entrance  to  this 
sphere,  we  all  assembled  at  the  lower  end  of  the  hall 
before  a  large  curtain  of  grey  and  gold  which  completely 
covered  the  walls. 

While  we  waited  in  expectation  of  what  we  were  to 
see,  a  soft  strain  of  music  floated  towards  us  as  though 
borne  upon  some  passing  breeze.  This  grew  stronger, 
fuller,  more  distinct,  till  a  solemn  majestic  measure  like 
the  march  of  an  army  fell  upon  our  ears.  Not  a  march  of 
triumph  or  rejoicing  but  one  such  as  might  be  played  by 
an  army  of  giants  mourning  over  a  dead  comrade,  so 
grand,  so  full  of  pathos  was  this  strain. 

Then  the  curtains  glided  apart  and  showed  us  a  huge 
mirror  of  black  polished  marble.  And  then  the  music 
changed  to  another  measure,  still  solemn,  still  grand,  but 
•with  somewhat  of  discordance  in  its  tones.  It  wavered 
too  and  became  uneven  in  the  measure  of  its  time,  as 
though  halting  with  uncertain  step,  stumbling  and 
hesitating. 

Then  the  air  around  us  darkened  till  we  could  scarce 
see  each  other's  faces;  slowly  the  light  faded,  and  at  last 
all  we  could  see  was  the  black  polished  surface  of  the 
gigantic  mirror,  and  in  it  I  saw  reflected  the  figures  of  two 
of  the  members  of  our  expedition.  They  moved  and 
spoke  and  the  scenery  around  them  grew  distinct  and  such 
as  I  had  seen  in  the  Inferno  we  had  left.  The  weird 
music  stirred  my  soul  to  its  inmost  core,  and  looking  upon 
the  drama  being  enacted  before  my  eyes  I  forgot  where 
I  was — I  forgot  everything — and  seemed  to  be  wandering 
once  more  in  the  dark  depths  of  Hell. 

Picture  melted  into  picture,  till  we  had  been  shown 
the  varied  experiences  of  each  of  our  band,  from  the 
lowest  member  to  our  leader  himself — the  last  scene  show- 
ing the  whole  company  assembled  upon  the  hill  listening 
to  the  farewell  discourse  of  our  commander;  and  like  the 
chorus  in  a  Greek  Tragedy,  the  wild  music  seemed  to 
accompany  and  explain  it  all,  varying  with  every  variation 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     213 

in  the  dramas,  now  sad  and  sorrowful,  now  full  of  repose 
or  triumph,  and  again  wailing,  sobbing,  shrieking  or 
changing  into  a  murmuring  lullaby  as  some  poor  rescued 
soul  sank  to  rest  at  last — then  again  rising  into  wild  notes 
of  clamor,  fierce  cries  of  battle,  hoarse  curses  and  im- 
precations; now  surging  in  wild  waves  of  tumultuous 
melody,  then  dying  away  amidst  discordant  broken  notes. 
At  last  as  the  final  scene  was  enacted  it  sank  into  a  soft 
plaintive  air  of  most  exquisite  sweetness,  and  died  away 
note  by  note.  As  it  ceased  the  darkness  vanished,  the 
curtains  glided  over  the  black  mirror  and  we  all  turned 
with  a  sigh  of  relief  and  thankfulness  to  congratulate  each 
other  that  our  wanderings  in  that  dark  land  were  past. 

I  asked  my  father  how  this  effect  had  been  produced, 
was  it  an  illusion  or  what? 

"My  son,"  he  answered,  "what  you  have  seen  is  an 
application  of  scientific  knowledge,  nothing  more.  This 
mirror  has  been  so  prepared  that  it  receives  and  reflects 
the  images  thrown  upon  it  from  a  series  of  sheets  of  thin 
metal,  or  rather  what  is  the  spiritual  counterpart  of 
earthly  metal.  These  sheets  of  metal  have  been  so  highly 
sensitized  that  they  are  able  to  receive  and  retain  these 
pictures  somewhat  in  the  fashion  of  a  phonograph  (such 
as  you  saw  in  earth  life)  receives  and  retains  the  sound 
waves. 

'"When  you  were  wandering  in  those  dark  spheres, 
you  were  put  in  magnetic  communication  with  this  instru- 
ment and  the  adventures  of  each  were  transferred  to  one 
of  these  sensitive  sheets,  while  the  emotions  of  every  one 
of  you  caused  the  sound  waves  in  the  spheres  of  music  and 
literature  to  vibrate  in  corresponding  tones  of  sympathy. 

"You  belong  to  the  spheres  of  Art,  Music  and  Litera- 
ture, and  therefore  you  are  able  to  see  and  feel  and  under- 
stand the  vibrations  of  those  spheres.  In  the  spirit  world 
all  emotions,  speeches,  or  events  reproduce  themselves  in 
objective  forms  and  become  for  those  in  harmony  with 
them  either  pictures,  melodies,  or  spoken  narratives. 
The  spirit  world  is  created  by  the  thoughts  and  actions  of 
the  soul,  and  therefore  every  act  or  thought  forms  its 


214     A  WA X DEBEE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

spiritually  material  counterpart.  In  this  sphere  you  will 
find  many  things  not  yet  known  to  men  on  earth,  many 
curious  inventions  which  will  in  time  be  transmitted  to 

earth  and  clothed  there  in  material  form.  But  see!  you 
are  about  to  receive  the  Palm  branch  which  is  given  to 
each  of  you  as  a  reward  of  your  victory." 

At  this  moment  the  large  doors  of  the  hall  were  once 
more  thrown  open  and  our  grand  master  entered,  followed 
by  the  same  train  of  handsome  youths  I  had  seen  before, 
only  this  time  each  carried  a  branch  of  palm  instead  of  a 
wreath  of  laurel.  When  the  grand  master  had  seated 
himself  under  his  canopy  of  state  we  were  each  summoned 
to  his  presence  to  receive  our  branch  of  palm,  and  when 
we  had  all  done  so  and  returned  to  our  places  again  a  most 
joyous  hymn  of  victory  wras  sung  by  everyone,  our  palm 
branches  waving  in  time  to  the  music  and  our  glad  voices 
filling  the  air  with  triumphant  harmony. 

********* 

I  now  enjoyed  a  long  quiet  season  of  rest  which  much 
resembled  that  half-waking,  half-sleeping  state,  when  the 
mind  is  too  much  in  repose  to  think  and  yet  retains  full 
consciousness  of  all  its  surroundings.  From  this  state, 
which  lasted  some  weeks,  I  arose  completely  recovered 
from  the  effects  of  my  wanderings  in  the  dark  spheres. 

And  my  first  thought  was  to  visit  my  beloved,  and 
see  if  she  could  see  me  and  be  conscious  of  my  improved 
appearance.  I  shall  not,  however,  dwell  upon  our  inter- 
view; its  joy  was  for  ourselves  alone — I  only  seek  to  show 
that  death  does  not  of  necessity  either  end  our  affection 
for  those  we  have  left  or  shut  us  out  from  sharing  with 
them  our  joys  or  sorrows. 

I  found  that  I  was  now  much  more  able  to  com- 
municate with  her  through  her  own  mediumistic  powers, 
so  that  we  did  not  need  any  third  person  to  intervene  and 
help  us,  and  thus  were  my  labors  lightened  and  cheered 
by  her  sweet  affection  and  her  conscious  recognition  of 
my  presence  and  of  my  continued  existence. 

My  work  at  this  time  was  once  more  upon  the  earth 
plane  and  in  those  cities  whose  counterparts  I  had  seen  in 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     215 

Hell.  I  had  to  labor  among  those  mortals  and  spirits  who 
thronged  them,  and  impress  their  minds  with  a  sense  of 
what  I  had  seen  in  that  dark  sphere  far  below.  I  knew  I 
could  only  make  them  dimly  conscious  of  it,  only  arouse 
a  little  their  dormant  sense  of  fear  of  future  retribution 
for  their  present  misdeeds,  but  even  that  was  something 
and  would  help  to  deter  some  from  a  too  complete 
abandonment  of  themselves  to  selfish  pleasure.  More- 
over, amongst  the  spirits  who  were  earth-bound  to  those 
cities  I  found  many  whom  I  could  assist,  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  strength  which  I  had  gained  in  my  journey. 

There  ever  is  and  ever  must  be  ample  work  for  those 
who  work  upon  the  earth  plane,  for  multitudinous  as  are 
the  workers  there,  more  are  always  being  wanted,  since 
men  are  passing  over  from  earth  life  every  hour  and  every 
minute,  who  need  all  the  help  that  can  be  given  them. 

Thus  passed  some  months  for  me,  and  then  I  began 
once  more  to  feel  the  old  restless  longing  to  rise  higher 
myself,  to  attain  more  than  I  had  yet  done,  to  approach 
nearer  to  that  sphere  to  which  my  beloved  one  would  pass 
when  her  earthly  life  was  ended,  and  by  attaining  which 
I  could  alone  hope  to  be  united  to  her  in  the  spirit  world. 
I  used  at  this  time  to  be  tormented  with  a  constant  fear 
lest  my  darling  should  pass  from  earth  before  I  had  risen 
to  her  spiritual  level,  and  thus  I  should  be  again  parted 
from  her. 

This  fear  it  was  which  had  ever  urged  me  on  to  fresh 
efforts,  fresh  concpiiests  over  myself,  and  now  made  me 
dissatisfied  even  with  the  progress  I  had  made.  I  knew 
that  I  had  overcome  much,  I  had  struggled  hard  to  im- 
prove, and  I  had  risen  wonderfully  fast,  yet  in  spite  of  all 
I  was  still  tormented  by  the  jealous  and  suspicious  feel- 
ings which  my  disposition  and  my  earthly  experience  had 
gathered  about  me. 

There  were  even  times  when  I  would  begin  to  doubt 
the  constancy  of  my  beloved  herself.  In  spite  of  all  the 
many  proofs  of  her  love  which  she  had  given  me,  I  would 
fear  lest  while  I  was  away  from  her  someone  yet  in  the 
flesh  should  after  all  win  her  love  from  me. 


21G     A  \VA NDEREK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

And  thus  I  was  in  danger  of  becoming  earth-bound 
by  reason  of  my  unworthy  desire  to  watch  her  continually. 
Ah!  you  who  think  a  spirit  has  changed  all  his  thoughts 
and  desires  at  the  moment  of  dissolution,  how  little  you 
understand  of  the  conditions  of  that  other  life  beyond  the 
grave,  and  how  slowly,  how  very  slowly  we  change  the 
habits  of  thought  we  have  cultivated  in  our  earthly  lives 
or  how  long  they  cling  to  us  in  the  spiritual  state. 

I  was  then  in  character  much  what  I  had  been  on 
earth,  only  a  little  better,  only  learning  by  degrees 
wherein  my  ideas  had  been  wrong  and  full  of  prejudice, 
a  lesson  we  may  go  on  learning  through  many  spheres, 
higher  than  any  I  had  attained  to. 

Even  while  I  doubted  and  feared,  I  was  ashamed  of 

my  doubts  and  knew  how  unjust  they  were,  yet  could  I 

not  free  myself  from  them;  the  experiences  of  my  earth 

life  had  taught  me  suspicion  and  distrust,  and  the  ghosts 

■  of  that  earth  life  were  not  so  easily  laid. 

It  was  while  I  was  in  this  state  of  self-torment  that 
Ahrinziman  came  to  me  and  told  me  how  I  might  free 
myself  from  these  haunting  shadows  of  the  past. 

"There  is,"  said  he,  "a  land  not  far  from  here  called 
the  Land  of  Remorse;  were  you  to  visit  it,  the  journey 
would  be  of  much  service  to  you,  for  once  its  hills  and 
valleys  were  passed  and  its  difficulties  overcome,  the  true 
nature  of  your  earthly  life  and  its  mistakes  would  be 
clearly  realized  and  prove  a  great  means  of  progression  for 
your  soul,  such  a  journey  will  indeed  be  full  of  much 
bitterness  and  sorrow,  for  you  will  see  displayed  in  all 
their  nakedness,  the  actions  of  your  past,  actions  which 
you  have  already  in  part  atoned  for  but  do  not  yet  see  as 
the  eyes  of  the  higher  spiritual  intelligences  see  them. 

"Few  who  come  over  from  earth  life  really  realize  the 
true  motives  which  prompted  their  actions;  many  indeed 
go  on  for  years,  some  even  for  centuries,  before  this 
knowledge  comes  to  them.  They  excuse  and  justify  to 
their  own  consciences  their  misdeeds,  and  such  a  land  as 
this  I  speak  of  is  very  useful  for  enlightening  them.     The 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     217 

journey  must,  however,  be  undertaken  voluntarily,  and  it 
will  then  shorten  by  years  the  pathway  of  progression. 

"In  that  land  men's  lives  are  stored  up  as  pictures 
which,  mirrored  in  the  wondrous  spiritual  atmosphere, 
reflect  for  them  the  reasons  of  many  failures;  and  show 
the  subtle  causes  at  work  in  their  own  hearts  which  have 
shaped  the  lives  of  each*.  It  would  be"  a  severe  and  keen 
self-examination  through  which  you  would  pass — a  bitter 
experience  of  your  own  nature,  your  own  self,  but  though 
a  bitter  it  is  a  salutary  medicine,  and  would  go  far  to  heal 
your  soul  of  those  maladies  of  the  earth  life  which  like  a 
miasma  hang  about  it  still." 

"Show  me,"  I  answered,  "where  this  land  is,  and  I 
will  go  to  it." 

Ahrinziman  took  me  to  the  top  of  one  of  those  dim 
and  distant  hills  which  I  could  see  from  the  window  of  my 
little  room,  and  leading  me  to  where  we  looked  down 
across  a  wide  plain  bounded  by  another  range  of  hills  far 
away,  said: 

"On  the  other  side  of  those  farther  hills  lies  this 
wondrous  land  of  which  I  speak,  a  land  through  which 
most  spirits  pass  whose  lives  have  been  such  as  to  call  for 
great  sorrow  and  remorse.  Those  whose  errors  have  been 
merely  trivial,  daily  weaknesses  such  as  are  common  to  all 
mankind,  do  not  pass  through  it;  there  are  other  means 
whereby  they  may  be  enlightened  as  to  the  source  of  their 
mistakes.  This  land  is  more  particularly  useful  to  such 
as  yourself,  of  strong  powers  and  strong  will,  who  will 
recognize  readily  and  admit  freely  wherein  you  have  done 
wrong,  and  in  doing  so  arise  to  better  things.  Like  a 
strong  tonic  this  circle  of  the  sphere  would  be  too  much 
for  some  weak  erring  spirits  who  would  only  be  crushed 
and  overwhelmed  and  disheartened  by  the  too  rapid  and 
vivid  realization  of  all  their  sins;  such  spirits  must  be 
taught  slowly,  step  by  step,  a  little  at  a  time,  while  you 
who  are  strong  of  heart  and  full  of  courage  will  but  rise 
the  more  rapidly  the  sooner  you  see  and  recognize  the 
nature  of  those  fetters  which  have  bound  your  soul." 


218    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

"And  will  it  take  me  long  to  accomplish  this 
journey?" 

"No,  it  will  last  but  a  short  time — two  or  three  weeks 
of  earth  time — for  behold  as  I  shadow  it  forth  to  you  I 
see  following  it  fast  the  image  of  your  returning  spirit, 
showing  that  the  two  events  are  not  separated  by  a  wide 
interval.  In  the  spirit  world  where  time  is  not  reckoned 
by  days  or  weeks  or  counted  by  hours,  we  judge  of  how 
long  an  event  will  take  to  accomplish  or  when  an  occur- 
rence will  happen  by  seeing  how  near  or  how  far  away 
they  appear,  and  also  by  observing  whether  the  shadow 
cast  by  the  coming  event  touches  the  earth  or  is  yet  dis- 
tant from  it — we  then  try  to  judge  as  nearly  as  possible 
of  what  will  be  its  corresponding  time  as  measured  by 
earthly  standards.  Even  the  wisest  of  us  may  not  always 
be  able  to  do  this  with  perfect  correctness;  thus  it  is  as 
well  for  those  who  communicate  with  friends  on  earth  not 
to  give  an  exact  date  for  foreseen  events,  since  many 
things  may  intervene  to  delay  it  and  thus  make  the  date 
incorrect.  An  event  may  be  shown  very  near,  yet  instead 
of  continuing  to  travel  to  the  mortal  at  the  same  speed  it 
may  be  delayed  or  held  in  suspense,  and  sometimes  even 
turned  aside  altogether  by  a  stronger  power  than  the  one 
which  has  set  it  in  motion." 

I  thanked  my  guide  for  his  advice  and  we  parted.  I 
was  so  very  eager  to  progress  that  a  very  short  time  after 
this  conversation  saw  me  setting  forth  upon  my  new 
journey. 

I  found  my  progress  not  so  rapid  as  had  been  the 
case  in  my  previous  travels  through  the  spirit  -land,  for 
now  I  had  taken  upon  me  the  full  burden  of  my  past  sins, 
and  like  the  load  carried  by  the  pilgrim  Christian  it 
almost  weighed  me  down  to  the  earth,  making  my  move- 
ments very  slow  and  laborious.  Like  a  pilgrim,  I  was 
habited  in  a  coarse  grey  robe,  my  feet  were  bare  and  my 
head  uncovered,  for  in  the  spirit  world  the  condition  of 
your  mind  forms  your  clothing  and  surroundings,  and  my 
feelings  then  were  as  though  I  wore  sackcloth  and  had  put 
dust  and  ashes  upon  my  head. 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     219 

When  I  had  at  last  crossed  those  dim  far-off  hills 
there  lay  before  me  a  wide  sandy  plain — a  great  desert — in 
which  I  saw  the  barren  sands  of  my  earthly  life  lie  scat- 
tered. Xo  tree,  no  shrub,  no  green  thing  was  there  any- 
where for  the  eye  to  rest  upon,  no  water  of  refreshment 
to  sparkle  before  us  like  hopes  of  happiness.  There  was 
no  shade  for  our  weary  limbs  should  we  seek  for  repose. 
The  lives  of  those  who  crossed  this  plain  in  search  of  the 
rest  beyond,  had  been  barren  of  true,  pure,  unselfish  affec- 
tion and  that  self-denial  which  alone  can  make  the  desert 
to  blossom  like  the  rose  and  sweet  waters  of  refreshment 
to  spring  up  around  their  paths. 

I  descended  to  this  dreary  waste  of  sand,  and  took 
a  narrow  path  which  seemed  to  lead  to  the  hills  on  the 
other  side.  The  load  I  carried  had  now  become  almost 
intolerable  to  me  and  I  longed  to  lay  it  down — but  in 
vain;  I  could  not  for  one  moment  detach  it.  The  hot 
sand  seemed  to  blister  my  feet  as  I  walked,  and  each  step 
was  so  labored  as  to  be  most  painful.  As  I  passed  slowly 
on  there  rose  before  me  pictures  of  my  past  and  of  all 
those  whom  I  had  known.  These  pictures  seemed  to  be 
just  in  front  of  me  and  to  float  in  the  atmosphere  like 
those  mirages  seen  by  earthly  travelers  through  the  desert. 

Like  dissolving  views  they  appeared  to  melt  into  one 
another  and  give  place  to  fresh  scenes.  Through  them 
all  there  moved  the  friends  or  strangers  whom  I  had  met 
and  known,  and  the  long  forgotten  unkind  thoughts  and 
words  which  I  had  spoken  to  them  rose  up  in  an  accusing 
array  before  me — the  tears  I  had  made  others  shed — the 
cruel  words  (sharper  and  harder  to  bear  than  any  blow) 
with  which  I  had  wounded  the  feelings  of  those  around 
me.  A  thousand  hard  unworthy  thoughts  and  selfish 
actions  of  my  past — long  thrust  aside  and  forgotten  or 
excused — all  rose  up  once  more  before  me,  picture  after 
picture — till  at  last  I  was  so  overwhelmed  to  see  what  an 
array  of  them  there  was,  that  I  broke  down,  and  casting 
my  pride  to  the  winds  I  bowed  myself  in  the  dust  and 
wept  bitter  tears  of  shame  and  sorrow.  And  where  my 
tears  fell  on  the  hot  dry  sand  there  sprang  up  around  me 


220    A  WANDERER  IN  TIIE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

little  flowers  like  white  stars,  eaeh  little  waxy  blossom 
bearing  in  its  heart  a  drop  of  clew,  so  that  the  place  I  had 
sunk  down  upon  in  such  sorrow  had  become  a  little  oasis 
of  beauty  in  that  weary  desert. 

I  plucked  a  few  of  those  tiny  blossoms  and  placed 
them  in  my  bosom  as  a  memorial  of  that  spot,  and  then 
rose  to  go  on  again.  To  my  surprise  the  pictures  were 
no  longer  visible,  but  in  front  of  me  I  beheld  a  woman 
carrying  a  little  child  whose  weight  seemed  too  much  for 
her  strength,  and  it  was  wailing  with  weariness  and  fear. 

I  hurried  up  to  them  and  offered  to  carry  the  poor 
little  one,  for  I  was  touched  by  the  sight  of  its  poor  little 
frightened  face  and  weary  drooping  head.  The  woman 
stared  at  me  for  a  moment  and  then  put  the  little  one  in 
my  arms,  and  as  I  covered  him  over  with  a  part  of  my 
robe  the  poor  tired  little  creature  sank  into  a  quiet  sleep. 
The  woman  told  me  the  child  was  hers,  but  she  had  not 
felt  much  affection  for  it  during  its  earth  life.  "In  fact," 
said  she,  "I  did  not  want  a  child  at  all.  I  do  not  care  for 
children,  and  when  this  one  came  I  was  annoyed  and 
neglected  it.  Then,  as  it  grew  older,  and  was  (as  I 
thought  then)  naughty  and  troublesome,  I  used  to  beat 
it  and  shut  it  up  in  dark  rooms,  and  was  otherwise  hard 
and  unkind.  At  last  when  it  was  five  years  old  it  died, 
and  then  I  died  not  long  afterwards  of  the  same  fever. 
Since  I  came  to  the  spirit  world  that  child  has  seemed  to 
haunt  me,  and  at  last  I  was  advised  to  take  this  journey, 
carrying  him  with  me  since  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  his 
presence." 

"And  do  you  even  yet  feel  no  love  for  the  poor 
little  thing?" 

"'Well,  no!  I  can't  say  I  have  come  to  love  it,  per- 
haps I  never  shall  really  love  it  as  some  mothers  do,  in- 
deed I  am  one  of  those  women  who  should  not  be  mothers 
at  all — the  maternal  instinct  is,  as  yet  at  all  events,  quite 
wanting  in  me.  I  do  not  love  the  child,  but  I  am  sorry 
now  that  I  was  not  kinder  to  him,  and  I  can  see  that  what 
I  thought  was  a  sense  of  duty  urging  me  to  bring  him  up 
properly  and  correct  his  faults,  was  only  an  excuse  for 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     221 

my  own  temper  and  the  irritation  the  care  of  him  caused. 
I  can  see  I  have  done  wrong  and  why  I  did  so,  but  I  can- 
not say  I  have  much  love  for  this  child." 

"And  are  you  to  take  him  with  you  through  all  your 
journey?"  I  asked,  feeling  so  sorry  for  the  poor  little 
unloved  thing  that  I  bent  over  him  and  kissed  him,  my 
own  eyes  growing  dim  as  I  did  so,  for  I  thought  of  my 
beloved  on  earth  and  what  a  treasure  she  would  have 
deemed  such  a  child,  and  how  tender  she  would  have  been 
to  it.  And  as  I  kissed  him  he  put  his  little  arms  around 
my  neck  and  smiled  up  at  me  in  a  half-asleep  way  that 
should  have  gone  straight  to  the  woman's  heart.  Even 
as  it  was  her  face  relaxed  a  little,  and  she  said  more 
graciously  than  she  had  yet  spoken: 

"I  am  only  to  carry  him  a  little  farther  I  believe,  and 
then  he  will  be  taken  to  a  sphere  where  there  are  many 
children  like  him  whose  parents  do  not  care  about  them 
and  who  are  taken  care  of  by  spirits  who  are  fond  of 
children." 

"I  am  glad  to  think  that,"  I  said,  and  then  we 
trudged  on  together  for  a  bit  farther,  till  we  reached  a 
small  group  of  rocks  where  there  was  a  little  pool  of  water, 
beside  which  we  sat  down  to  rest.  Presently  I  fell  asleep, 
and  when  I  awoke  the  woman  and  the  child  had  gone. 

I  arose  and  resumed  my  way,  and  shortly  after 
arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  mountains,  which  pride  and 
ambition  had  reared.  Hard,  rocky,  and  precipitous  was 
the  pathway  across  them,  with  scarce  foothold  to  help  one 
on,  and  ofttimes  it  seemed  as  though  these  rocks  reared 
by  selfish  pride  would  prove  too  difficult  to  surmount. 
And  as  I  climbed  I  recognized  what  share  I  had  had  in 
building  them,  what  atoms  my  pride  had  sent  to  swell 
these  difficulties  I  now  encountered. 

Yow  of  us  know  the  secrets  of  our  own  hearts.  We  so 
often  deem  that  it  is  a  far  nobler  ambition  than  mere  self- 
aggrandisement  which  inspires  our  efforts  to  place  our- 
selves on  a  higher  level  than  our  fellow  men  who  are  not 
so  well  equipped  for  the  battle  of  life. 

I  looked  back  upon  my  past  with  shame  as  I  recog- 


•-'•-'•»     A  WAN  I  >E  111".  1 1  IN  THE  Sl'IIMT  LANDS. 

nized  one  great  rock  after  another  to  be  the  spiritual  em- 
blems of  the  stumbling  blocks  which  I  had  placed  in  the 
path  of  my  feebler  brothers^  whose  poor  crude  efforts  had 
once  seemed  to  me  only  worthy  of  prompt  extinction  in 
the  interests  of  all  true  art,  and  1  longed  to  have  -my  life 
to  live  over  again  that  I  might  do  better  with  it  and 
encourage  where  I  had  once  condemned,  help  where  I 
had  crushed.     • 

I  had  been  so  hard  to  myself,  so  eager  ever  to  attain 
to  the  highest  possible  excellence,  that  I  had  never  been 
satisfied  with  any  of  my  own  efforts — even  when  the 
applause  of  my  fellows  was  ringing  in  my  ears,  even  when 
I  had  carried  off  the  highest  prizes  from  all  competitors — 
and  sc  I  had  thought  myself  entitled  to  exact  as  high  a 
standard  from  all  who  sought  to  study  my  beautiful  art. 
I  could  see  no  merit  in  the  efforts  of  the  poor  stragglers 
^who  were  as  infants  beside  the  great  master  minds. 
"Talent,  genius,  I  could  cordially  admire,  frankly  appre- 
ciate, but  with  complacent  mediocrity  I  had  no  sympathy; 
such  I  had  had  no  desire  to  help.  I  was  ignorant  then 
that  those  feeble  powers  were  like  tiny  seeds  which 
though  they  would  never  develop  into  anything  of  value 
on  earth,  would  yet  blossom  into  the  perfect  flower  in  the 
great  Hereafter.  In  my  early  days,  when  success  first  was 
mine,  and  before  I  had  made  shipwreck  of  my  life,  I  had 
been  full  of  the  wildest,  most  ambitious  dreams,  and 
though  in  later  years  when  sorrow  and  disappointments 
had  taught  me  somewhat  of  pity  for  the  struggles  of 
others,  yet  I  could  not  learn  to  feel  true  cordial  sympathy 
with  mediocrity  and  its  struggles,  and  now  I  recognized 
that  it  was  the  want  of  such  sympathy  which  had  piled  up 
high  these  rocks  so  typical  of  my  arrogance. 

In  my  sorrow  and  remorse  at  this  discovery  I  looked 
around  to  see  if  there  might  be  anyone  near  me  weaker 
than  myself,  whom  it  may  not  be  too  late  to  assist  upon 
his  path,  and  as  I  looked  I  saw  above  me  on  this  hard 
road  a  young  man  almost  spent  and  much  exhausted  with 
his  effort  to  climb  these  rocks,  which  family  pride  and  an 
ambition  to  rank  with  the  noble  and  wealthy  had  piled 


A  WANDEBER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    223 

up  for  him — a  pride  to  which  he  had  sacrificed  all  those 
who  should  have  been  most  dear.  He  was  clinging  to  a 
jut  ting-out  portion  of  rock,  and  was  so  spent  and  ex- 
hausted he  seemed  almost  ready  to  let  go  and  fall. 

I  shouted  to  him  to  hold  on,  and  soon  climbed  up  to 
where  he  was,  and  there  with  some  difficulty  succeeded  in 
dragging  him  up  to  the  summit  of  these  rocks.  My 
strength  being  evidently  double  his,  I  was  only  too  ready 
to  help  him  as  some  relief  to  the  remorse  I  now  felt  at 
thinking  how  many  feeble  minds  I  had  crushed  in 
the  past. 

When  we  reached  the  top  and  sat  down  to  rest,  I 
found  myself  to  be  much  bruised  and  torn  by  the  sharp 
stones  over  which  we  had  stumbled.  But  I  also  found 
that  in  my  struggles  to  ascend,  my  burden  of  selfish  pride 
had  fallen  from  me  and  was  gone,  and  as  I  looked  back 
over  the  path  by  which  I  had  climbed  I  clothed  myself 
anew  in  the  sackcloth  and  ashes  of  humility,  and  resolved 
I  would  go  back  to  earth  and  seek  to  help  some  of  those 
feebler  ones  to  a  fuller  understanding  of  my  art.  I  would 
seek  as  far  as  I  could  to  give  them  the  help  of  my  higher 
knowledge.  "Where  I  had  crushed  the  timid  aspiring  soul 
I  would  now  encourage,  where  my  sharp  tongue  and  keen 
wit  had  wounded  I  would  strive  to  heal.  I  knew  now  that 
none  should  dare  to  despise  his  weaker  brother  or  crush 
out  his  hopes,  because  to  a  more  advanced  mind  they  seem 
small  and  trivial. 

I  sat  long  upon  that  mountain  thinking  of  these 
things — the  young  man  whom  I  had  helped  going  on 
without  me.  At  last  I  rose  and  wended  my  way  slowly 
through  a  deep  ravine  spanned  by  a  broken  bridge  and 
approached  by  a  high  gate,  at  which  many  spirits  were 
waiting,  and  trying  by  various  means  to  open  it  in  order 
that  they  might  pass  through.  Some  tried  force,  others 
tried  to  climb  over,  others  again  sought  to  find  some  secret 
spring,  and  when  one  after  another  tried  and  failed  some 
of  the  others  again  would  seek  to  console  the  disappointed 
ones.  As  I  drew  near  six  or  seven  spirits  who  still  hov- 
ered about  the  gate  drew  back,  curious  to  see  what  I  would 


224    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

do.  It  was  a  ureal  gate  of  what  looked  to  me  like  sheets 
of  iron,  though  its  real  nature  I  do  not  even  now  know. 
1 1  was  so  high  and  so  smooth,  no  one  could  climb  it,  so 
solid  it  was  vain  to  dream  of  forcing  it,  so  fast  shut  there 
appeared  no  chance  of  opening  it.  I  stood  in  front  of  it 
in  despair,  wondering  what  I  should  do  now,  when  I  saw 
a  poor  woman  near  me  weeping  most  bitterly  with  dis- 
appointment; she  had  been  there  some  time  and  had  tried 
in  vain  to  open  the  gate.  I  did  my  best  to  comfort  her 
and  give  her  all  the  hope  I  could,  and  while  I  was  doing 
so  the  solid  gate  before  us  melted  away  and  we  passed 
through.  Then  as  suddenly  1  saw  it  rise  again  behind 
me,  while  the  woman  had  vanished,  and  beside  the  bridge 
stood  a  feeble  old  man  bent  nearly  double.  As  I  was  still 
wondering  about  the  gate  a  voice  said  to  me,  "That  is  the 
gate  of  kind  deeds  and  kind  thoughts.  Those  who  are  on 
the  other  side  must  wait  till  their  kind  thoughts  and  acts 
for  others  are  heavy  enough  to  weigh  the  gate  down,  when 
it  will  open  for  them  as  it  did  for  you  who  have  tried  so 
hard  to  help  your  fellows." 

I  now  advanced  to  the  bridge  where  the  old  man  was 
standing,  poking  about  with  his  stick  as  if  feeling  his  way, 
and  groaning  over  his  helplessness.  I  was  so  afraid  he 
would  fall  through  the  broken  part  without  seeing  it,  that 
I  rushed  impulsively  forward  and  offered  to  help  him  over. 
But  he  shook  his  head,  "No!  no!  young  man,  the  bridge  is 
so  rotten  it  will  never  bear  your  weight  and  mine.  Go  on 
yourself,  and  leave  me  here  to  do  the  best  I  can." 

"Not  so,  you  are  feeble,  and  old  enough  to  be  my 
grandfather,  and  if  I  leave  you  you  will  most  likely  drop 
through  the  broken  place.  Now,  I  am  active  and  strong, 
and  it  will  go  hard  with  us  if  I  do  not  contrive  somehow 
to  get  us  both  across." 

Without  waiting  for  his  reply  I  took  hold  of  him 
and  hoisted  him  on  to  my  back,  and  telling  him  to  hold 
tight  by  my  shoulders  I  started  to  cross  the  bridge. 

Sapristi!  what  a  weight  that  old  man  seemed!  Sin- 
bad's  old  man  of  the  sea  was  a  joke  to  him.  That  bridge, 
too,  how  it  creaked,  groaned  and  bent  under  our  weight. 


A  WANDEEEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS!    225 

I  thought  we  must  hoth  he  tumbled  into  the  chasm  below, 
and  all  the  time  the  old  man  kept  imploring  me  not  to 
drop  him.  On  I  struggled,  holding  with  my  hands  as 
well  as  I  could,  and  crawling  on  all-fours  when  we  reached 
the  worst  part.  When  we  got  to  the  middle  there  was  a 
great  ragged  hole  and  only  the  broken  ends  of  the  two 
great  beams  to  catch  hold  of.  Here  I  did  feel  it  a  diffi- 
culty. I  could  have  swung  myself  across  I  felt  certain, 
but  it  was  a  different  thing  with  that  heavy  old  man 
clinging  to  me  and  half  choking  me,  and  a  thought  did 
cross  my  mind  that  I  might  have  done  better  to  leave  him 
alone,  but  that  seemed  so  cruel  to  the  poor  old  soul  that 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  risk  it.  The  poor  old  man  gave  a 
great  sigh  when  he  saw  how  matters  stood,  and  said: 

''You  had  better  abandon  me  after  all.  I  am  too 
helpless  to  get  across  and  you  will  only  spoil  your  own 
chance  by  trying  it.     Leave  me  here  and  go  on  alone." 

His  tone  was  so  dejected,  so  miserable,  I  could  never 
have  so  left  him,  and  I  thought  to  make  a  desperate  effort 
for  us  both,  so  telling  him  to  hold  on  tight  I  grasped  the 
broken  beam  with  one  hand  and,  making  a  great  spring.  I 
swung  myself  over  the  chasm  with  such  a  will  we  seemed 
to  fly  across,  and  alighted  upon  the  other  side  unharmed. 

As  I  looked  back  to  see  what  we  had  escaped,  I  cried 
out  in  astonishment,  for  there  was  no  break  in  the  bridge 
at  all,  but  it  was  as  sound  a  bridge  as  ever  I  saw,  and  by 
my  side  there  stood  not  a  feeble  old  man  but  Ahrinziman 
himself,  laughing  at  my  astonishment.  He  put  his  hand 
upon  my  shoulder  and  said: 

"Franchezzo,  my  son,  that  was  but  a  little  trial  to  test 
if  you  would  be  unselfish  enough  to  burden  yourself  with 
a  heavy  old  man  when  your  own  chance  seemed  so  small. 
I  leave  you  now  to  encounter  the  last  of  your  trials  and 
to  judge  for  yourself  the  nature  of  those  doubts  and  sus- 
picions you  have  cherished.  Adieu,  and  may  success 
attend  you." 

He  turned  away  from  me  and  immediately  vanished, 


•*•'<;    A  WAXhKKKi;  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

leaving  me  to  go  on  alone  through  another  deep  valley 
which  was  lief  ore  me. 

It  lay  between  two  precipitous  hills,  and  was  called 
"The  valley  of  the  phantom  mists."  Great  wreaths  of 
grey  vapor  floated  to  and  fro  and  crept  up  the  hill  sides, 
shaping  themselves  into  mysterious  phantom  forms  and 
hovering  around  me  as  I  walked. 

The  farther  I  advanced  through  the  ravine  the 
thicker  grow  these  shapes,  growing  more  distinct  and  like 
living  things.  I  knew  them  to  he  no  more  than  the 
thought  creations  of  my  earthly  life,  yet  seen  in  this  life- 
like palpable  form  they  were  like  haunting  ghosts  of  my 
past,  rising  up  in  accusing  array  against  me.  The  sus- 
picions I  had  nursed,  the  doubts  I  had  fostered,  the  un- 
kind, unholy  thoughts  I  had  cherished,  all  seemed  to 
•gather  round  me,  menacing  and  terrible,  mocking  me  and 
taunting  me  with  the  past,  whispering  in  my  ears  and 
closing  over  my  head  like  great  waves  of  darkness.  As 
my  life  had  grown  more  full  of  such  thoughts,  so  did  my 
path  become  blocked  with  them  till  they  hemmed  me  in 
on  every  side.  Such  fearful,  distorted,  hateful-looking 
things!  And  these  had  been  my  own  thoughts,  these 
mirrored  the  state  of  my  own  mind  towards  others. 
These  brooding  spirits  of  the  mist — dark,  suspicious,  and 
bewildering— confronted  me  now  and  showed  me  what 
my  heart  had  been.  I  had  had  so  little  faith  in  goodness — 
so  little  trust  in  my  fellow  man.  Because  I  had  been 
cruelly  deceived  I  had  said  in  my  haste  all  men,  and 
women  too,  are  liars,  and  I  had  sneered  at  the  weakness 
and  the  folly  around  me,  and  thought  it  was  always  the 
same  thing  everywhere,  all  bitterness  and  disappointment. 

So  these  thought-creations  had  grown  up,  mass  upon 
mass,  till  now  that  I  sought  to  battle  with  them  they 
seemed  to  overwhelm  and  stifle  me,  wrapping  me  up  in 
the  great  vaporous  folds  of  their  phantom  forms.  In  vain 
I  sought  to  beat  them  off.  to  shake  myself  free  of  them. 
They  gathered  round  and  closed  me  in  even  as  my  doubts 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     227 

and  suspicions  had  done.  I  was  seized  with  horror,  and 
fought  as  if  they  had  heen  living  things  that  were  sweep- 
ing me  to  destruction.  And  then  I  saw  a  deep  dark 
crevasse  open  in  the  ground  before  me,  to  which  these 
phantoms  were  driving  me,  a  gulf  into  which  it  seemed 
I  must  sink  unless  I  could  free  myself  from  these  awful 
ghosts.  Like  a  madman  I  strove  and  wrestled  with  them, 
fighting  as  for  dear  life,  and  still  they  closed  me  in  and 
forced  me  back  and  back  towards  that  gloomy  chasm. 
Then  in  my  anguish  of  soul  I  called  aloud  for  help  to  be 
free  from  them,  and  throwing  my  arms  out  before  me  with 
all  my  force  I  seemed  to  grasp  the  foremost  phantom  and 
hurl  it  from  me.  Then  did  the  mighty  cloud  of  doubts 
waver  and  break  as  though  a  wind  had  scattered  them, 
and  I  sank  overcome  and  exhausted  upon  the  ground; 
and  as  I  sank  into  unconsciousness  I  had  a  dream,  a  brief 
but  lovely  dream,  in  which  I  thought  my  beloved  had 
come  to  me  and  scattered  those  foul  thoughts,  and  that 
she  knelt  down  beside  me  and  drew  my  head  to  rest  upon 
her  bosom  as  a  mother  with  her  child.  I  thought  I  felt 
her  arms  encircle  me  and  hold  me  safe,  and  then  the 
dream  was  over  and  I  fell  asleep. 

When  I  recovered  consciousness  I  was  resting  still  in 
that  valley,  but  the  mists  had  rolled  away  and  my  time  of 
bitter  doubt  and  suspicion  was  past.  1  lay  upon  a  bank 
of  soft  green  turf  at  the  end  of  the  ravine,  and  before  me 
there  was  a  meadow  watered  by  a  smooth  peaceful  river  of 
clear  crystal  water.  I  arose  and  followed  the  windings  of 
the  stream  for  a  short  distance,  and  arrived  at  a  beautiful 
grove  of  trees.  Through  the  trunks  I  could  see  a  clear 
pool  on  whose  surface  floated  water-lilies.  There  was  a 
fairy-like  fountain  in  the  middle,  from  which  the  spray 
fell  like  a  shower  of  diamonds  into  the  transparent  water. 
The  trees  arched  their  branches  overhead  and  through 
them  I  could  see  the  blue  sky.  I  drew  near  to  rest  and 
refresh  myself  at  the  fountain,  and  as  I  did  so  a  fair 
nymph  in  a  robe  of  green  gossamer  and  with  a  crown  of 
water-lilies  on  her  head  drew  near  to  help  me.     She  was 


228     A  WANDEBEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

the  guardiaE  spirit  of  the  fountain,  and  her  work  was  to 
help  and  refresh  all  weary  wanderers  like  myself.  "In 
earth  life.""  said  she,  "I  lived  in  a  forest,  and  here  in  the 
spirit  land  1  find  a  home  surrounded  by  the  woods  I  love 
so  well." 

She  gave  me  food  and  drink,  and  after  I  had  rested 
a.  while  showed  me  a  broad  pathway  through  the  trees, 
which  led  to  a  Home  of  Rest  where  1  might  repose  for  a 
time.  With  a  grateful  heart  I  thanked  this  bright  spirit, 
and  following  the  path  soon  found  myself  before  a  large 
building  covered  with  honeysuckle  and  ivy.  It  had  many 
windows  and  wide  open  doors  as  though  to  invite  all  to 
enter.  It  was  approached  by  a  great  gateway  of  what 
looked  like  wrought  iron,  only  that  the  birds  and  flowers 
on  it  were  so  life-like  they  seemed  to  have  clustered  there 
to  rest.  While  I  stood  looking  at  the  gate  it  opened  as  by 
magic,  and  I  passed  on  to  the  house.  Here  several  spirits 
in  white  robes  came  to  welcome  me,  and  I  was  conducted 
to  a  pretty  room  whose  windows  looked  out  upon  a  grassy 
lawn  and  soft  fairy-like  trees,  and  here  I  was  bidden  to 
repose  myself. 

On  awakening  I  found  my  pilgrim  dress  was  gone, 
and  in  its  stead  there  lay  my  light  grey  robe,  only  now  it 
had  a  triple  border  of  pure  white.  I  was  greatly  pleased, 
and  arrayed  myself  with  pleasure,  for  I  felt  the  white  to  be 
a  sign  of  my  progression — white  in  the  spirit  world 
symbolizing  purity  and  happiness,  while  black  is  the 
reverse. 

Presently  I  was  conducted  to  a  large  pleasant  room 
in  which  were  a  number  of  spirits  dressed  like  myself, 
among  whom  I  was  pleased  to  recognize  the  woman  with 
the  child  whom  I  had  helped  across  the  Plains  of  Eepent- 
ance  and  Tears.  She  smiled  much  more  kindly  on  the 
child,  and  greeted  me  with  pleasure,  thanking  me  for  my 
help,  while  the  little  one  climbed  upon  my  knees  and 
established  himself  there  as  an  earthly  child  might  have 
done. 

An  ample  repast  of  fruits  and  cakes  and  the  pure 
wine  of  the  spirit  land  was  set  before  us,  and  when  we 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     229 

wore  all  refreshed  and  had  returned  our  thanks  to  God 
for  all  his  mercies,  the  Brother  who  presided  wished  us 
all  God's  speed,  and  then  with  grateful  hearts  we  bade 
each  other  adieu  and  set  forth  to  return  to  our  own  homes. 


230     A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

I  was  not,  however,  destined  to  remain  in  the  Land 
of  Dawn.  My  home  was  now  to  be  in  the  circle  of  the 
Morning  Land,  and  I  was  therefore  escorted  thither  by 
my  friends. 

It  lay  beyond  the  peaceful  lake  and  those  hills  behind 
which  I  used  to  watch  the  light  of  that  dawning  day 
which  never  seemed  to  grow  brighter  or  advance  in  the 
Land  of  Dawn,  but  whose  beauties  belonged  to  this 
Morning  Land.  This  land  lay  in  an  opposite  direction 
from  that  range  of  hills  beyond  which  lay  the  Plain  of 
Remorse. 

Here  in  the  Morning  Land  I  found  that  I  was  to 
have  a  little  home  of  my  own,  a  something  earned  by 
myself.  I  have  always  loved  a  place  of  my  own,  and  this 
little  cottage,  simple  as  it  was,  was  very  dear  to  me.  It 
was  indeed  a  peaceful  place.  The  green  hills  shut  it  in  on 
every  side  save  in  front,  where  they  opened  out  and  the 
ground  stretched  away  in  undulating  slopes  of  green  and 
golden  meadow  land.  There  were  no  trees,  no  shrubs, 
around  my  new  home,  no  flowers  to  gladden  my  oyes, 
because  my  efforts  had  not  yet  blossomed  into  flower. 
But  there  was  one  sweet  trailing  honeysuckle  that 
clustered  around  the  little  porch  and  shed  the  fragrance 
of  its  love  into  my  rooms.  This  was  the  gift  of  my 
beloved  to  me,  the  spiritual  growth  of  her  sweet  pure 
loving  thoughts  which  twined  around  my  dwelling  to 
whisper  to  me  ever  of  her  constant  love  and  truth. 

There  were  only  two  little  rooms,  the  one  for  me  to 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     231 

receive  my  friends  and  to  study  in,  and  the  other  my 
chain  her  of  repose,  where  I  could  rest  when  weary  with  my 
work  on  the  earth  plane.  And  in  this  room  there  was  my 
picture  framed  in  roses,  and  all  my  little  treasures.  The 
hlne  sky  outside  shed  down  on  me  so  pure  a  light,  my 
eyes,  long  wearied  to  see  it,  gazed  on  it  again  and  yet 
again.  The  soft  green  grass  and  the  fragrant  honey- 
suckle were  all  so  sweet,  so  delicious  to  me,  wearied  as  I 
was  with  my  long  dark  wanderings,  that  I  was  overcome 
with  the  emotions  of  my  gratitude.  I  was  aroused  by  a 
kindly  hand,  a  loving  voice,  and  looking  up,  beheld  my 
father.  Ah!  what  a  joy,  what  a  happiness  I  felt,  and  still 
more  when  he  bade  me  come  to  earth  with  him  and  show 
this  home  in  a  vision  to  her  who  was  its  guiding  star! 

What  happy  hours  I  can  recall  when  I  look  back  to 
that,  my  first  home  in  the  spirit  land.  I  was  so  proud 
to  think  I  had  won  it.  My  present  home  is  far  finer,  my 
present  sphere  far  more  beautiful  in  every  way,  but  I  have 
never  felt  a  greater  happiness  than  I  felt  when  that  first 
home  of  my  own  was  given  to  me. 

I  should  but  weary  my  readers  were  I  to  attempt  to 
describe  all  the  work  on  the  earth  plane  I  did  at  this  time, 
all  the  sad  ones  I  helped  to  cheer  and  direct  upon  the 
better  way.  There  is  a  sameness  in  such  work  that  makes 
one  example  serve  for  many. 

Time  passes  on  for  spirits  as  well  as  mortals  and 
brings  ever  new  changes — fresh  progression.  And  thus 
while  I  was  working  to  help  others  I  was  gradually  myself 
learning  the  lesson  which  had  proved  most  hard  for  me  to 
learn.  The  lesson  of  that  entire  forgiveness  of  our  enemies 
which  will  enable  us  to  feel  that  we  not  only  desire  them 
no  harm  but  that  we  even  wish  to  do  them  good — to 
return  good  for  evil  cordially.  It  had  been  a  hard  struggle 
to  overcome  my  desire  for  revenge,  or  wish  that  at  all 
events  some  punishment  should  overtake  the  one  who  had 
so  deeply  wronged  me,  and  it  was  as  hard,  or  harder  even, 
to  desire  now  to  benefit  that  person.  Time  and  again 
while  I  was  working  on  the  earth  plane  I  went  and  stood 
beside  that  one,  unseen  and  unfelt  save  for  the  thoughts 


233     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

of  me  that  would  be  awakened,  and  each  time  I  perceived 
that  my  enemy's  thoughts  were  to  the  full  as  bitter  as  my 
own.  There  was  no  love  lost  between  us.  Standing  there 
I  beheld  time  after  time  the  events  of  our  lives  blended 
together  in  one  picture,  the  dark  shadows  of  our  passion- 
ate hate  dimming  and  blurring  these  pictures  as  storm 
clouds  sweep  over  a  summer  sky.  And  in  the  clearer 
light  of  my  spiritual  knowledge  I  beheld  where  my  faults 
had  lain,  as  strongly  or  more  so  than  I  beheld  those  of  my 
enemy.  And  from  such  visits  I  would  return  to  my  little 
cottage  in  the  spirit  land  overwhelmed  with  the  bitterest 
regrets,  the  keenest  anguish,  yet  always  unable  to  feel 
aught  but  bitterness  and  anger  towards  the  one  whose  life 
seemed  only  to  have  been  linked  by  sorrow  and  wrong  to 
my  own. 

At  last  one  day  while  standing  beside  this  mortal  I 
became  conscious  of  a  new  ieeling,  almost  of  pity,  for  this 
person  was  also  oppressed  in  soul — also  conscious  of  regret 
in  thinking  of  our  past.  A  wish  had  arisen  that  a  different 
course  towards  me  had  been  followed.  Thus  was  there 
created  between  us  a  kinder  thought,  which  though  faint 
and  feeble  was  yet  the  first  fruits  of  my  efforts  to  over- 
come my  own  anger — the  first  softening  and  melting  of 
the  hard  wall  of  hatred  between  us.  Then  was  there  given 
to  me  a  chance  to  assist  and  benefit  this  person  even  as  the 
chance  had  before  come  to  me  of  doing  harm,  and  now  I 
was  able  to  overcome  my  bitterness  and  to  take  advantage 
of  this  opportunity,  so  that  it  was  my  hand — the  hand 
which  had  been  raised  to  curse  and  blight — which  was 
now  the  one  to  help  instead. 

My  enemy  was  not  conscious  of  my  presence  nor  of 
my  interference  for  good,  but  felt  in  a  dim  fashion  that 
somehow  the  hatred  between  us  was  dead,  and  that,  as  I 
was  dead,  it  were  perhaps  better  to  let  our  quarrels  die  also. 
Thus  came  at  last  a  mutual  pardon  which  severed  the 
links  which  had  so  long  bound  our  earthly  lives  together. 
I  know  that  during  the  earthly  life  of  that  one  we  shall 
never  cross  each  other's  path  again,  but  even  as  I  had 
seen  in  the  case  of  my  friend  Benedetto,  when  death  shall 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS!     233 

sever  the  thread  of  that  earthly  life,  our  spirits  will  meet 
once  again,  in  order  that  each  may  ask  pardon  from  the 
other.  Not  until  then  will  all  links  he  finally  severed 
between  us  and  each  pass  on  to  our  appointed  sphere. 
Great  and  lasting  are  the  effects  upon  the  soul  of  our  loves 
and  our  hates;  long,  long  after  the  life  of  earth  is  past  do 
they  cling  to  us,  and  many  are  the  spirits  whom  I  have 
seen  tied  to  each  other,  not  by  mutual  love  but  mutual 
hate. 


231     A  YVAXDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

When  I  had  at  last  learned  the  lesson  of  self  con- 
quest my  mind  seemed  to  be  free  from  a  great  oppressive 
weight,  and  I  turned  to  the  study  of  the  spirit  land  and 
its  conditions  with  renewed  interest.  At  this  period  of 
my  wanderings  I  used  to  see  my  friend  Hassein  very  often, 
and  he  helped  me  to  an  understanding  of  many  things 
which  had  perplexed  me  in  my  earthly  life. 

On  one  occasion  when  we  were  seated  in  my  little 
home  enjoying  one  of  our  many  conversations,  I  asked 
him  to  tell  me  more  of  the  spheres  and  their  relation  to 
'the  earth. 

"The  term  spheres,"  said  he,  "is,  as  you  have  seen, 
applied  to  those  great  belts  of  spiritual  matter  which 
encircle  the  earth  and  other  planets.  It  is  likewise  applied 
to  those  still  vaster,  more  extended,  thought  waves  which 
circle  throughout  all  the  universe.  Thus  we  may  say 
there  are  two  classes  of  spheres — those  which  are  in  a 
measure  material  and  encircle  each  their  own  planet  or 
their  own  solar  system  and  form  the  dwelling  places  of  the 
spiritual  inhabitants  of  each  planet.  These  spheres  are 
divided  into  circles  indicating,  like  steps  upon  the  ladder 
of  progress,  the  moral  advancement  of  the  spirits. 

"The  other  class  of. spheres  are  mental,  not  material, 
in  their  constituents  and  do  not  belong  to  any  planetary  or 
solar  system,  but  are  as  limitless  as  the  universe,  circling 
in  ever  widening  currents  of  thought  emanations  from  the 
central  point,  around  which  all  the  universe  is  held  to  be 
revolving,  and  which  point  is  said  to  be  the  immediate 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     235 

environment  of  the  Supreme  Being,  from  whom  these 
thought  wave?  are  held  to  proceed.  It  may  perhaps  make 
my  meaning  still  clearer  to  say  there  is  one  great  sphere 
of  the  intellectual  faculties  or  attributes  belonging  essen- 
tially to  the  soul,  and  then  to  divide  this  sphere  into 
circles  such  as  the  circles  of  Philosophy,  of  Art,  of  Music, 
of  Literature,  etc. 

It  is  a  common  mode  of  expression  to  call  them 
spheres,  but  to  my  mind  it  is  more  correct  to  describe 
them  as  circles.  These  Intellectual  Circles,  like  great 
wheels,  inclose  all  those  lesser  wheels,  those  spiral  rings, 
which  surround  each  their  own  solar  system,  or  parent 
planet,  wheels  within  wheels,  revolving  around  the  one 
great  centre  continually.  In  the  spirit  world  only  those 
who  are  in  sympathy  ever  remain  together,  and  though 
the  ties  of  relationship  or  the  links  of  kind  remembrance 
may  at  times  draw  together  those  who  have  no  common 
bonds  of  union,  these  will  be  but  flying  visits,  and  each 
will  return  to  their  own  circle  and  sphere,  drawn  back  by 
the  strong  magnetic  attraction  which  holds  each  sphere 
and  each  circle  of  a  sphere  in  unison.  A  spirit  belonging 
to  the  sphere  of  Music  or  Philosophy,  will  be  drawn  to 
others  of  a  like  disposition  who  are  in  the  same  stage  of 
moral  advancement  as  himself,  but  his  development  of  a 
higher  degree  of  music  or  philosophy  will  not  enable  him 
to  ascend  into  a  higher  circle  of  the  Moral  Spheres,  or 
planetary  spheres,  than  his  moral  development  entitles 
him  to  occupy.  The  central  suns  of  each  of  the  vast 
intellectual  circles  of  the  mental  sphere  shine  as  burnished 
magnets.  They  are  as  great  prisms  glowing  with  the 
celestial  fires  of  purity  and  truth,  and  darting  on  all  sides 
their  glorious  rays  of  knowledge,  and  in  these  rays  cluster 
the  multitudes  of  spirits  who  are  seeking  to  light  their 
lamps  at  these  glowing  shrines.  In  those  rays  which 
reach  the  earth  pure  and  unbroken,  are  found  those  gems 
of  truth  which  have  illuminated  the  minds  of  men  in  all 
ages  of  the  world's  history,  and  shattered  into  a  thousand 
fragments  the  great  rocks  of  error  and  darkness,  even  as 
the  lightning's  flash  shivers  a  granite  rock,  letting  into 


23G     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

the  depths  below  the  clear  light  of  God's  sun,  and  those 
spirits  who  arc  most  highly  advanced  are  those  who  are 
nearest  to  the  central  force,  to  the  dazzling  light  of  these 
starlike  centres.  These  great  spheres  of  the  intellectual 
and  moral  faculties  may,  then,  he  termed  the  "universal*' 
spheres;  those  around  each  planet,  "planetary"  spheres; 
and  those  surrounding  the  sun  centres,  "solar"  spheres: 
the  first  heing  understood  to  consist  of  thought  or  sold 
essence,  the  others  of  various  degrees  of  spiritualized 
matter." 

"And  how,  then,  would  you  describe  the  creation  of 
a  planet  and  its  spheres?" 

"The  creation  of  a  planet  may  be  said  to  begin  from 
the  time  when  it  is  cast  off  from  the  parent  sun  in  the 
form  of  a  nebulous  mass  of  fiery  vapor.  In  this  stage  it 
is  a  most  powerful  magnet,  attracting  to  itself  the  minute 
particles  of  matter  which  float  through  all  the  ether  of 
space.  This  ether  has  been  supposed  to  be  void  of  all 
material  atoms  such  as  float  in  the  atmosphere  of  planets, 
but  that  is  an  incorrect  supposition,  the  fact  being  that 
fhe  atoms  of  matter  are  simply  subdivided  into  even  more 
minute  particles  compared  to  which  a  grain  of  sand  is  as 
the  bulk  of  the  sun  to  the  earth.  These  atoms  being  thus 
subdivided  and  dispersed  through  space  (instead  of  being 
clustered  by  the  forces  of  magnetic  attraction  in  the 
planet  into  atoms  the  size  of  those  which  float  as  motes  in 
the  earth's  atmosphere),  have  become  not  only  invisible 
to  man's  material  sight  but  are  also  incapable  of  being 
detected  by  the  ordinary  chemical  means  at  his  disposal. 
They  are,  in  fact,  etherealized,  and  have  become  of  the 
first  degree  of  spirit  matter  in  consequence  of  the  amount 
of  soul  essence  which  has  become  amalgamated  with  their 
grosser  elements.  In  becoming  attracted  to  the  glowing 
mass  of  an  embryo  planet,  these  atoms  become  so  thickly 
clustered  together  that  the  more  ethereal  elements  are 
pressed  out  and  escape  back  into  space,  leaving  the  solid 
gross  portion  to  form  into  rock,  etc.,  through  the  constant 
attracting  of  fresh  atoms  and  the  necessarily  vast  increase 
of  pressure  thus  caused.     These  atoms  exist  eternally,  and 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     237 

are  as  indestructible  as  all  the  other  elements  which  con- 
stitute the  universe,  and  they  are  absorbed  and  cast,  off 
again  by  planet  after  planet  as  each  passes  through  the 
various  stages  of  its  existence  and  development. 

"The  atoms  of  matter  may  be  broadly  classed  under 
three  heads,  and  again  each  of  the  three  heads  may  be  sub- 
divided into  an  infinite  number  of  degrees  of  density,  in 
order  to  express  the  various  stages  of  sublimation  to 
which  they  have  attained.  The  three  principal  classes 
may  be  termed,  material  or  planetary  matter — spiritual  or 
soul  enveloping  matter,  which  is  no  longer  visible  to 
material  sight — and  soul  essence,  this  last  being  so  sub- 
limated that  it  is  not  possible  for  me  yet  to  describe  its 
nature  to  you.  Of  the  material  matter  the  lowest,  most 
gross  form,  is  that  of  which  mineral  substances,  such  as 
rocks,  earth,  etc.,  are  formed;  these  are  thrown  off  into 
the  atmosphere  as  dust  and  reabsorbed  continually  to  be 
changed,  by  the  process  continually  going  on  in  nature 
everywhere,  into  plants,  etc.  The  intermediate  degree 
between  the  rocks  and  the  plants  is  the  fluidic,  in  which 
the  more  solid  particles  are  held  in  solution  by  the  various 
gases  or  vaporized  form  of  the  chemical  elements  which 
constitute  them.  The  second  degree  of  material  matter 
is  that  of  plant  or  vegetable  life  which  is  nourished  by  the 
blending  of  the  most  gross  matter  with  the  fluidic.  Thus 
through  infinite  gradations  of  earthly  matter  we  reach  the 
highest,  namely,  flesh  and  bones  and  muscles  which, 
whether  it  clothes  the  soul  of  man  or  one  of  the  lower 
animals,  is  still  the  highest  degree  of  material  matter,  con- 
taining in  this  highest  degree  of  earthly  material  develop- 
ment all  those  elements  of  which  the  lower  degrees  are 
composed. 

"The  second  or  spiritual  form  of  matter  is,  as  I  have 
said,  merely  the  etherealized  development  of  the  first  or 
earthly  form  of  matter,  while  the  soul  essence  is  the 
animating  principle  of  both,  the  Divine  germ,  without 
which  the  two  first  forms  of  matter  could  not  exist.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  law  of  the  two  first  classes  of  matter  that  they 
should  clothe  the  higher  soul  principle,  or  they  lose  their 


238    A  WAffDEEEB  IN  TIN-  SPIRIT  LAXDS. 

power  of  cohesion  and  are  diffused  into  their  elemental 
parts  again.  Soul  matter  is  the  only  one  which  possesses 
any  permanent  identity.  It  is  the  true  Ego,  since  by  no 
power  can  it  be  disintegrated  or  lose  its  individuality.  It 
is  the  true  life  of  whatever  lower  forms  of  matter  it  may 
animate,  and  as  sueli  changes  and  shapes  that  lower 
matter  into  its  own  identity.  Soul  essence  is  in  and  of 
every  type  of  life,  from  the  mineral  and  vegetable  to  man, 
the  highest  type  of  animal,  and  each  of  these  types  is 
capable  of  development  into  the  highest  or  celestial  form, 
in  which  state  it  is  found  in  the  Heavenly  Sphere  of  each 
planet  and  each  solar  system. 

"Since,  then,  we  maintain  that  everything  has  its 
soul  of  a  higher  or  lower  type,  it  need  not  create  surprise 
in  the  mind  of  any  mortal  to  he  told  that  there  are  plants 
and  flowers,  rocks  and  deserts,  beasts  and  birds,  in  the 
spirit  world.  They  exist  there  in  their  spiritualized  or 
developed  state,  and  are  more  etherealized  as  they  advance 
higher,  in  accordance  with  the  same  law  which  governs 
alike  the  development  of  man,  the  highest  type,  and  that 
of  the  lowest  form  of  soul  matter.  When  a  plant  dies  or 
the  solid  rock  is  dispersed  into  dust  or  fused  into  gas,  its 
soul  essence  passes  with  the  spiritual  matter  pertaining  to 
it,  into  the  spirit  world,  and  to  that  sphere  to  which  its 
development  is  most  akin — the  most  material  portion 
being  absorbed  by  the  earth,  the  more  sublimated  particles 
of  matter  feeling  less  of  the  earth  attraction  and  therefore 
floating  farther  from  it.  Thus  in  the  early  stages  of  a 
planet's  life,  when  it  possesses  but  a  small  portion  of  the 
soul  essence  and  a  large  amount  of  gross  matter,  its 
spheres  are  thrown  out  first  in  the  direction  farthest  from 
its  sun  and  are  very  material,  and  the  development  of  its 
spiritual  inhabitants  is  very  low. 

"At  this  early  stage  the  vegetable  as  well  as  the 
animal  and  human  types  of  soul  life  are  coarse  and  gross, 
wanting  in  the  refinement  and  beauty  which  may  be 
observed  as  the  evolution  of  the  planet  advances.  Grad- 
ually the  vegetation  changes,  the  animals  change,  the 
races  of  men  who  appear  become  each  higher,  more  per- 


A  AYAXDEKER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     239 

feet,  and  as  a  consequence  the  spiritual  emanations 
thrown  off  become  correspondingly  higher.  In  the  first 
stages  of  a  planet's  life  the  spheres  scarcely  exist.  They 
may  be  likened  to  a  cone  in  shape,  the  small  end  being 
represented  by  the  planet  itself,  the  earth  plane  being  the 
highest  sphere  which  has  developed,  and  the  lower 
spheres — by  reason  of  the  degraded  tastes  and  low  in- 
tellectual development  of  the  planet's  inhabitants — being 
like  the  wide  end  of  the  cone.  As  the  planet  develops  the 
spheres  increase  in  size  and  number,  and  the  higher  ones 
begin  to  form,  the  point  of  the  cone  receding  from  the 
planet  towards  the  sun  as  each  of  the  higher  spheres 
begins  its  existence. 

"Thus  are  the  spheres  formed  below  and  above  the 
planet  by  the  constant  influx  of  the  atoms  thrown  off  from 
the  parent  planet.  At  a  certain  stage  of  their  formation, 
when  the  intellectual  and  selfish  propensities  of  man  are 
more  highly  developed  than  his  moral  and  unselfish  fac- 
ulties, these  lower  spheres  in  extent  greatly  exceed  the 
higher  ones,  and  these  may  be  termed  the  Dark  Ages  of 
the  World's  History,  when  oppression  and  cruelty  and 
greed  spread  their  dark  wings  over  mankind. 

"After  a  time  the  eternal  law  of  the  higher  evolution 
of  all  things  causes  the  higher  and  lower  spheres  to  be- 
come equal  in  extent  and  number.  Then  may  we  see  the 
forces  of  good  and  evil  equally  balanced,  and  this  period 
may  be  termed  the  meridian  of  the  planet's  life.  Xext 
follows  the  period  when  by  the  gradual  improvement  of 
mankind  the  figure  of  the  cone  becomes  gradually  re- 
versed, the  earth  plane  becoming  again  the  narrow  end 
by  reason  of  the  shrinking  and  disappearance  of  the  lower 
spheres,  while  the  higher  ones  expand  towards  the  highest 
of  all,  till  at  last  only  this  highest  sphere  exists  at  all  and 
the  planet  itself  shrinks  gradually  away  till  all  the 
material  gross  particles  have  been  thrown  off  from  it,  and 
it  vanishes  from  existence,  all  its  gross  atoms  floating  away 
imperceptibly,  to  be  reabsorbed  by  other  planets  yet  in 
process  of  formation. 

"Then  will  the  sphere  of  that  planet  together  with 


2  10    A  WAN  m:i;i:k  IX  the  spirit  lands. 

its  inhabitants  become  absorbed  into  the  great  spheres  of 
its  solar  system,  and  its  inhabitants  will  exist  there  as  do 
already  many  communities  01  fepirits  whose  planets  have 
passed  out  of  existence.  Each  planetary  community, 
however,  will  retain  the  characteristics  and  individuality 
of  their  planet — just  as  different  nationalities  on  earth 
do — till  they  become  gradually  merged  in  the  larger 
nationality  of  their  solar  system.  So  gradual,  so  im- 
perceptible, are  these  processes  of  development,  so  vast 
the  periods  of  time  they  take  to  accomplish,  that  the  mind 
of  mortal  man  may  be  forgiven  for  failing  to  grasp  the 
immensity  of  the  changes  which  take  place.  The  lives  of 
all  planets  are  not  similar  in  their  duration,  because  size 
and  position  in  the  solar  system,  as  well  as  other  causes, 
contribute  to  modify  and  slightly  alter  their  development, 
but  the  broad  features  will  in  all  cases  be  found  the  same, 
just  as  the  matter  of  which  each  planet  is  composed  shows 
no  chemical  substance  which  does  not  exist  in  a  greater 
or  less  degree  in  every  other.  Thus  we  are  able  to  judge 
from  the  condition  of  the  planets  around  us  what  has  been 
the  history  of  our  earth  in  the  past  and  what  will  be  its 
ultimate  destiny." 

"If,  as  you  say,  our  spheres  are  to  become  absorbed 
into  those  of  our  sun  centre,  will  our  individuality  as 
spirits  become  merged  in  that  of  the  solar  s)'stem?" 

"Xo!  most  certainly  not.  The  individuality  of  each 
soul  germ  is  indestructible;  it  is  but  a  minute  unit  in  the 
vast  ocean  of  soul  life,  but  still  it  is  a  distinct  unit,  the 
personality  of  each  being  in  fact  its  Ego.  It  is  this  very 
individuality,  this  very  impossibility  of  dispersing  or  de- 
stroying the  soul  which  constitutes  its  immortality,  which 
distinguishes  it  from  all  other  matter,  and  makes  its 
nature  so  difficult  of  explanation  or  analysis.  You  have 
become  a  member  of  our  Brotherhood  of  Hope,  yet  you 
retain  your  individuality,  and  so  it  is  with  the  soul 
eternally,  no  matter  through  what  conditions  of  existence 
it  may  pass.  Try  to  imagine  a  body  so  light  that  the  most 
etherealized  vapor  is  heavy  beside  it,  yet  a  body  possessing 
such  power  of  cohesion  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  to 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    241 

disintegrate  its  particles,  the  power  of  resistance  against 
all  material  or  spiritual  forms  of  matter  which  it  possesses 
being  equal  to  that  which  a  bar  of  steel  offers  to  a  cloud 
of  vapor.  Imagine  this  and  you  will  realize  how  it  is  that 
as  a  spirit  you  can  pass  through  solid  doors  and  walls  of 
earthly  matter,  and  how  a  spirit  higher  than  yourself  can 
pass  with  equal  ease  through  these  walls  of  spiritual 
matter  which  surround  us  here.  The  more  perfectly  the 
soul  is  freed  from  gross  matter,  the  less  can  it  he  bound 
by  any  element,  and  the  greater  become  its  powers,  since 
it  is  not  the  soul  essence  but  its  dense  envelope  which  can 
be  imprisoned  on  earth  or  in  the  spheres.  To  you  now 
the  walls  of  earthly  houses  offer  no  impediment  to  free 
ingress  or  egress.  You  pass  through  them  as  easily  as  your 
earthly  body  used  to  pass  through  the  fog.  The  density 
of  the  fog  might  be  disagreeable  to  you,  but  it  could  not 
arrest  your  progress.  Moreover,  when  you  passed  through 
a  fog  there  was  no  vacuum  left  to  show  where  your  passage 
through  it  had  been.  This  was  because  the  elements  of 
which  the  fog  was  composed  were  attracted  together  again 
too  quickly  for  you  to  perceive  where  they  had  been  dis- 
persed, and  that  is  exactly  what  happens  when  we  spirits 
pass  through  a  material  door  or  wall,  the  material  atoms 
of  which  it  is  composed  closing  after  our  progress  even 
more  quickly  than  the  fog." 

"I  understand  you,  and  now  if,  as  you  say,  each  type 
of  soul  essence  has  a  distinct  individuality  of  its  own  you 
will  not  agree  with  those  who  believe  in  the  transmigra- 
tion of  the  soul  of  an  animal  of  the  lower  type  into  a  man, 
and  vice  versa." 

"Certainly  not.  The  soul  of  each  type  we  hold  to  be 
capable  of  the  highest  degree  of  development  in  its  own 
type;  but  the  soul  of  man  being  the  highest  type  of  all  is, 
therefore,  capable  of  the  highest  degree  of  development, 
namely,  into  those  advanced  spirits  we  call  angels.  Angels 
are  souls  who  have  passed  from  the  lowest  degree  of 
human  planetary  life  through  all  the  planetary  spheres  till 
they  have  attained  to  the  celestial  spheres  of  the  solar 
system,  our  Heaven  of  Heavens,  which  is  as  far  in  advance 


Z-l-2    A  WANDEBEft  IX  TITE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

of  our  Heaven  of  the  planetary  spheres  as  that  is  in  ad- 
vance of  the  planet  itself.     We  believe  that  the  soul  will 

go  on  mounting  continually  as  by  ever  widening  spiral 
rings,  till  it  has  reached  what  we  now  term  the  centre  of 
the  universe,  but  whether  when  we  do  attain  that  summit 
of  our  present  aspirations  we  shall  not  find  it  to  be  but  a 
finite  point  revolving  round  a  still  greater  centre  I  cannot 
say.  My  own  feeling  is  that  we  shall  attain  to  centre  after 
centre,  ever  resting,  it  may  be  millions  of  years,  in  each, 
till  our  aspirations  shall  again  urge  us  to  heights  as  far 
again  above  us.  The  more  one  contemplates  the  subject 
the  more  vast  and  limitless  it  becomes.  How,  then,  can 
we  hope  to  see  an  end  to  our  journeyings  through  that 
which  has  no  end,  and  has  had  no  beginning,  and  how  can 
we  even  hope  to  form  any  clear  idea  of  the  nature  and 
attributes  of  that  Supreme  Being  whom  we  hold  to  be  the 
Omnipotent  Ruler  of  the  universe,  seeing  that  we  cannot 
even  fully  and  clearly  grasp  the  magnitude  of  his  creation? 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     243 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

Another  time  when  we  were  conversing  I  asked 
Hassein  for  his  explanation  of  the  phenomena  of  the 
spiritualistic  movement  which  has  recently  been  inaugu- 
rated upon  earth,  and  in  which  I  am  naturally  deeply 
interested,  particularly  as  relating  to  materialization,  and 
of  which  I  wished  to  learn  all  I  could. 

Hassein  replied:  "In  order  that  the  mind  may  grasp 
the  full  significance  of  the  Atomic  theory,  which  has  of 
late  been  advanced  by  men  on  earth,  and  which  affords 
one  of  the  most  simple  as  well  as  logical  explanations  of 
the  passage  of  matter  through  matter,  it  may  not  be  out 
of  place  to  say,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who.have  not  given 
much  thought  to  the  subject  and  like  these  questions  put 
before  them  in  the  simplest  form,  that  the  subdivisions  of 
matter  are,  as  we  have  said,  so  minute  that  even  the  speck 
of  dust  which  floats  invisible  to  the  eye,  unless  a  sunbeam 
be  let  in  upon  it  to  illuminate  it,  is  composed  of  an  infinite 
number  of  smaller  particles,  which  are  attracted  and  held 
together  by  the  same  laws  that  govern  the  attraction  and 
repulsion  of  larger  bodies.  The  knowledge  of  these  laws 
gives  to  spirits  the  power  of  adapting  these  atoms  to 
their  own  use,  while  making  the  manifestations  called 
'Materializations'  now  familiar  to  students  of  Spiritual- 
ism. The  atoms  suitable  for  their  purpose  are  collected 
by  the  spirits  wishing  to  materialize,  from  the  atmos- 
phere, which  is  full  of  them  and  also  from  the  emanations 
proceeding  from  the  men  and  women  who  form  the  spirit 
circle.     These  atoms  are  shaped  by  the  spirits'  will  into 


2  H    A  WANDEKEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

the  form  of  their  earthly  bodies,  ami  held  in  combination 
by  a  chemical  substance  found,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
in  the  bodies  of  all  living  things.  Were  the  chemists  of 
earth  life  sufficiently  advanced  in  knowledge,  they  could 
extract  this  chemical  from  every  living  thing  in  nature 
and  store  it  up  to  he  used  at  will. 

"This  substance  or  essence  is  in  fact  the  mysterious 
Elixir  of  Life,  the  secret  of  extracting  and  retaining  which 
in  tangible  form  has  been  sought  by  the  sages  of  all  times 
and  countries.  So  subtle,  so  ethereal,  however,  is  it  that 
as  yet  there  is  no  process  known  to  earthly  chemists  which 
can  bring  this  essence  into  a  state  to  be  analyzed  by  them, 
although  it  has  been  recognized  and  classed  by  some  under 
the  head  of  'Magnetic  Aura/  Of  this,  however,  it  is  but 
one — and  that  the  most  ethereal — element.  The  life- 
giving  rays  of  the  sun  contain  it,  but  who  is  there  as  yet 
among  chemists  who  can  separate  and  bottle  up  in  differ- 
ent portions  the  sunbeams?  And  of  all  portions  this 
especially,  which  is  the  most  delicate,  the  most  subtle. 
Yet  this  knowledge  is  possessed  by  advanced  spirits,  and 
some  day  when  the  world  has  progressed  far  enough  in 
the  science  of  chemistry,  the  knowledge  of  this  process 
will  be  given  to  men  just  as  the  discoveries  in  electricity 
and  kindred  sciences  have  been  given — discoveries  which 
in  an  earlier  age  would  have  been  styled  miraculous. 

'  "Here  let  me  remark  as  to  'Auras/  that  the  con- 
stituent elements  of  the  auras  of  the  different  sitters  at  a 
seance  have  quite  as  much  effect  upon  the  materialization 
as  has  that  of  the  medium.  Sometimes  the  chemical 
elements  in  the  aura  of  one  sitter  do  not  amalgamate  or 
blend  thoroughly  with  those  of  some  other  sitter  present, 
and  this  want  of  harmony  prevents  any  materialization 
taking  place  at  all.  In  extreme  cases  these  antagonistic 
elements  act  so  strongly  in  opposition  to  each  other  and 
are  so  repellent  in  their  effects  upon  the  atoms  collected, 
that  they  act  as  a  spiritual  explosive  which  scatters  the 
atoms  as  dynamite  shatters  a  solid  wall. 

"This  antagonism  has  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  moral  or  mental  conditions  of  such  persons.     They 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     245 

may  both  be  in  all  respects  most  estimable,  earnest  people, 
but  they  should  never  sit  in  the  same  circle  and  never  be 
brought  into  magnetic  contact,  since  their  auras  could 
never  blend,  and  only  general  disappointment  can  result 
from  any  attempt  to  harmonize  them.  Although,  apart, 
they  might  each  attain  satisfactory  enough  results,  they 
never  could  do  so  in  any  attempt  in  combination. 

"In  those  known  as  simply  physical  mediums,  that  is 
mediums  with  whose  assistance  purely  physical  phenom- 
ena alone  are  produced,  such  as  the  moving  of  tables  or 
carrying  in  the  air  of  musicaFboxes,  and  similar  feats,  this 
peculiar  essence  exists,  but  in  a  form  too  coarse  to  be  suit- 
able for  materialization,  which  requires  a  certain  degree 
of  refinement  in  the  essence.  In  them  it  is  like  a  coarse 
raw  alcoholic  spirit,  but  in  the  true  materializing  me- 
dium it  is  like  the  same  spirit  redistilled,  refined,  and 
purified,  and  the  purer  this  essence  the  more  perfect  will 
be  the  materialization. 

"In  many  mediums  there  is  a  combination  of  the 
physical  and  materializing  powers,  but  in  exact  proportion 
as  the  coarse  physical  manifestations  are  cultivated  so 
will  the  higher  and  finer  forms  of  materialization  be  lost. 

"It  is  erroneous  to  imagine  that  in  true  materializa- 
tion you  are  getting  merely  the  double  of  the  medium 
transformed  for  the  moment  into  a  likeness  of  your  de- 
parted friends,  or  that  the  emanations  from  the  sitters 
must  always  affect  the  appearance  of  the  resulting  spirit 
forms.  They  can  only  do  so  when  from  some  cause  there 
is  a  deficiency  of  the  special  essence,  or  an  inability  on  the 
spirit's  part  to  use  it.  In  that  case  the  atoms  retain  the 
personality  of  those  from  whom  they  are  taken,  because 
the  spirit  is  unable  to  stamp  his  identity  upon  them,  as  a 
wax  image,  and  until  it  be  melted  into  a  new  mold,  it  will 
retain  the  impress  of  the  old.  The  possession  of  a  suffi- 
cient amount  of  the  special  essence,  on  the  one  hand,  en- 
ables the  spirit  to  clothe  himself  in  the  atoms  he  has  col- 
lected and  to  hold  them  long  enough  to  melt  them,  as  it 
were,  into  a  state  in  which  they  will  take  on  his  identity 
or  the  stamp  of  his  individuality.     The  absence  of  the  es- 


846     A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

sencc,  on  the  other  hand,  causes  him  to  lose  his  hold  be- 
fore the  process  has  become  perfect,  and  thus  be  has  either 
hastily  to  show  himself  with  the  imperfect  resemblance  lie 
has  obtained,  or  else  not  show  himself  at  all. 

"A  familiar  simile  may  explain  my  meaning.  When 
in  the'earth  bod}*,  yon  took  flesh,  vegetable,  and  fluid  sub- 
Btances  ready  formed,  containing  in  a  prepared  stale  the 
elements  your  earthly  body  required  for  its  renewal,  and 
by  the  process  of  digestion  yon  changed  these  substances 
into  a  part  of  yonr  soul's  earthly  envelope.  Well,  in  the 
same  way  a  spirit  takes  the  ready  prepared  atoms  given  off 
by  the  medium  and  members  of  a  materializing  seance, 
and  by  a  process  as  rapid  as  lightning  artificially  digests* 
or  arranges  them  into  a  material  covering  or  envelope  for 
himself,  bearing  his  own  identity  more  or  less  completely 
impressed  on  it  according  to  his  power. 

"Every  atom  of  the  body  of  a  mortal  is  drawn,  di- 
rectly or  indirectly,  from  the  atmosphere  around  him.  and 
absorbed  in  one  form  or  another,  and  after  it  has  served  as 
clothing  for  his  spirit,  it  is  cast  off  to  be  again  absorbed  in 
another  form  by  some  other  living  thing.  Everyone 
knows  that  the  material  of  the  human  body  is  continually 
changing,  and  yet  many  think  to  establish  a  prescriptive 
right  to  those  atoms  thrown  off  during  a  seance,  and  say 
that  when  a  spirit  makes  use  of  them  and  adapts  them  to 
himself,  therefore  he  must  have  taken  their  own  mental 
characteristics  along  with  the  material  atoms,  and  thus 
they  try  to  persuade  themselves  that  the  spirit  appearing 
clothed  with  these  material  atoms  is  no  more  than  the 
thought  emanation  of  their  own  bodies  and  brains,  ignor- 
ing, or  more  probably  not  knowing,  that  the  grossest  ma- 
terial, not  the  mental  atoms,  were  all  the  spirit  wanted  to 
clothe  himself  with  and  make  him  visible  to  material 
sight. 

"The  best  proof  of  the  fallacy  of  this  supposition  is 
the  constant  appearance  at  seances  of  spirits  whom  no  one 
present  was  flunking  of  at  the  time,  and  in  some  cases 
even  of  people  whose  death  was  not  known  to  any  of  the 
sitters. 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     2±7 

'•The  essence  or  fluid  ether  of  which  I  have  spoken  is 
that  which  principally  holds  the  material  body  together  in 
life.  At  death,  or,  more  correctly,  the  withdrawal  of  the 
soul  and  the  severance  of  the  connecting  link  between  it 
and  the  material  atoms  of  the  body,  it  escapes-  into  the 
surrounding  atmosphere,  permitting  the  particles  of  that 
body  to  decay.  Cold  retards  the  dispersal  of  this  fluid 
other;  heat  accelerates  it.  thus  explaining  why  the  body  of 
any  animal  or  plant  disintegrates  or  turns  to  decay  sooner 
in  hot  than  in  cold  climates,  and  thus  becomes  nourish- 
ment fit  for  those  minute  parasites  which  are  stimulated 
and  fed  by  a  lower  degree  of  life  magnetism  which  is 
retained  in  the  discarded  envelope.  This  essence  or 
fluidic  ether  is  akin  to  the  electric  fluid  known  to  scien- 
tists, but  as  electricity  is  the  product  of  mineral  and  vege- 
table substances,  it  is  lower  in  degree  and  much  coarser  in 
quality  than  this  human  electricity,  and  would  require  the 
combination  of  other  elements  to  make  it  assimilate  with 
the  human. 

"This  higher  essence  is  an  important  element  in  wdiat 
has  been  termed  the  Higher  Animal  Life  Principle  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  Soul-Life  Principle  and  from  the 
Astral  Life  Principle.  Each  of  which  we  make  distinct 
elemental  principles. 

"In  trance,  either  artificially  induced  or  occurring  as 
part  of  the  spiritual  development  of  certain  sensitives  or 
mediums,  this  life  essence  remains  with  the  body,  but,  as 
life  is  required  for  its  need  in  trance,  a  large  portion  may 
be  taken  away  and  used  by  the  controlling  spirit  to  clothe 
himself,  care  being  taken  to  return  it  to  the  medium 
again.  With  some  mediums  this  life  essence  is  given  off 
so  freely  that  unless  care  is  taken  to  replace  it  continually, 
the  death  of  the  physical  body  will  soon  follow.  In  oth- 
ers it  can  only  be  extracted  with  great  difficulty,  and  in 
some  there  is  so  small  a  quantity  that  it  would  be  neither 
wise  nor  useful  to  take  any  away  from  them  at  all. 

'"The  aura  of  those  mediums  possessing  a  large  amount 
of  a  high  and  pure  quality,  will  diffuse  a  most  lovely  clear 
silver  light,  which  can  be  seen  by  clairvoyants,  and  it 


218    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

helps  even  immaterialized  spirits  to  make  themselves  vis- 
ible. This  silver  light  can  be  seen  radiating  like  the  rays 
of  a  star  from  the  medium,  and  where  it  is  present  in  a 
very  high  degree  no  other  light  is  required  for  the  mate- 
rialized spirits  to  show  themselves,  the  spirits  appearing 
as  though  surrounded  by  a  silver  halo,  and  with  this  beau- 
tiful light  illuminating  their  garments,  they  appear  much 
as  you  see  pictures  of  saints  and  angels,  whom  no  doubt 
the  ancient  seers  beheld  through  the  medium  of  this 
species  of  aura. 

"Although  the  aid  of  a  materializing  medium  and 
a  good  circle  of  persons  still  in  the  material  body  may  sim- 
plify the  process  of  building  up  a  body  in  which  a  spirit 
may  be  able  to  clothe  himself,  yet  it  is  quite  possible  for 
some  spirits  of  the  highest  spheres  to  make  for  themselves 
a  material  body  without  the  aid  of  any  medium  or  any 
other  person  in  an  earth-body.  Their  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  chemistry  is  sufficient  and  their  will  power  is  ade- 
quate to  the  strain  imposed  on  it  in  the  process,  and  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  earth  as  well  as  in  the  plants,  min- 
erals, and  animals,  is  to  be  found  every  substance  of  which 
the  body  is  composed  and  from  which  the  life  essence  is 
extracted.  The  human  body  is  a  combination  of  all  the 
materials  and  gases  found  on  and  in  the  earth  and  its  at- 
mosphere, and  it  only  requires  a  knowledge  of  the  laws 
governing  the  combination  and  adhesion  of  the  various 
substances  to  enable  a  spirit  to  make  a  body  in  all  re- 
spects similar  to  that  of  terrestrial  man,  and  to  clothe 
himself  therewith,  holding  it  in  combination  for  a  longer 
or  shorter  period  at  will. 

"Such  knowledge  is  of  necessity  unknown  as  yet  ex- 
cept in  the  higher  spheres,  because  it  requires  a  high  de- 
gree of  development  in  the  mental  condition  of  the  spirit 
before  he  can  duly  weigh  and  understand  all  the  minute 
points  and  numerous  laws  of  nature  involved  in  the  sub- 
ject. The  ancients  were  right  in  saying  they  could  make 
a  man.  They  could  do  so,  and  even  animate  their  manu- 
facture to  a  certain  degree  with  the  astral  or  lower  life- 
principle,  but  they  could  not  continue  to  sustain  that  life 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     249 

by  reason  of  the  extreme  difficulty  in  collecting  this  lower 
life-principle,  and  when  they  had  so  animated  the  artifi- 
cially made  body  it  would  be  devoid  of  intelligence  and 
reason,  these  attributes  belonging  exclusively  to  the  soul, 
and  neither  man  nor  spirit  can  endow  such  a  body  with  a 
soiil — that  which  alone  can  give  it  intellect  and  immor- 
tality. At  the  same  time  an  artificially  made  body  could 
serve  as  a  covering  to  a  spirit  (or  soul)  and  enable  him  to 
converse  with  men  for  a  longer  or  shorter  time,  according 
to  the  power  of  the  spirit  to  retain  this  material  envelope 
in  the  complete  state.  Thus  no  doubt  those  of  the 
ancients  who  had  acquired  a  knowledge  of  these  things 
could  also  renew  at  will  the  material  covering  of  their 
bodies,  and  make  themselves  practically  live  upon  the 
earth  forever,  or  they  might  disperse  these  material 
atoms  and  walk  forth  in  the  spirit  freed  from  the  tram- 
mels of  the  flesh,  reconstructing  the  earthly  body  again 
when  it  suited  them.  Such  spirit  men  are  the  Mahatmas, 
who  by  the  knowledge  of  these  and  kindred  secrets  do 
possess  many  of  the  marvellous  powers  attributed  to  them. 

"But  where  we  differ  from  them  is  in  the  application 
of  the  knowledge  they  have  thus  gained  and  the  doctrines 
they  deduce  from  it,  and  also  as  to  the  unaclvisability  of 
imparting  it  freely  to  men  in  the  flesh,  and  the  duty  of 
withholding  it  from  them  as  a  dangerous  thing.  "We  hold 
there  is  no  knowledge  given  to  any  spirit  or  mortal,  which 
may  not  be  safely  possessed  by  every  other,  provided  they 
have  the  mental  development  to  understand  and  apply 
this  knowledge.  Our  great  teacher  of  these  subjects,  the 
guide  Ahrinziman.  was  a  native  of  the  East  and  has  been 
a  student  of  occult  subjects,  both  in  his  earth  life  and  in 
the  two  thousand  and  more  years  that  have  passed  since 
he  left  the  earth.and  this  is  his  decided  opinion,  and  he 
has  seen  both  the  origin  and  the  practice  of  many  of  these 
ideas  that  are  as  yet  new  to  the  "Western  mind. 

'"While  thus  possessing  the  power  to  create  a  material 
body  from  the  elemental  atoms  alone,  spirits  of  advanced 
knowledge  seldom  use  this  power,  because  for  ordinary 
materializing  purposes  there  is  no  need  to  exercise  it,  the 


850     A  WANDEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

emanations  from  the  members  of  the  materializing  circle 
and  the  aura  of  the  medium,  which  are  already  saturated 
with  the  necessary  essence  Eor  the  formation  of  a  body, 
saving  them  both  time  and  trouble,  and  simplifying  the 
process.  It  is  just  as  the  buying  a  ready  made  piece  of 
cloth  simplifies  the  making  of  a  garment,  instead  of  the 
tailor  having  to  proceed  first  to  grow  the  wool,  then  to 
spiu  it,  and  finally  to  weave  it  into  cloth  for  himself  before 
he  can  begin  to  make  the  garment. 

"In  some  cases  so  much  of  the  material  is  taken  from 
the  medium's  body  so  as  to  perceptibly  alter  its  weight. 
In  others  nearly  the  whole  of  the  material  covering  is 
used,  so  that  to  material  sight  the  medium  has  vanished, 
although  a  clairvoyant  may  perceive  the  astral  or  spirit 
form  still  seated  in  the  chair.  In  such  cases  it  is  simply 
the  gross  material  atoms  which  have  been  made  use  of, 
while  the  mental  atoms  have  not  been  touched.  As  a 
rule  the  spirits  who  take  part  in  a  materializing  seance, 
both  those  who  materialize  themselves  and  those  who 
assist  the  chief  controlling  spirit,  are  ignorant  of  the 
means  by  which  the  results  are  obtained,  just  as  many 
persons  who  avail  themselves  of  the  discoveries  of  chem- 
istry and  the  articles  manufactured  by  chemists  are 
ignorant  of  how  those  substances  are  obtained.  There  is 
in  all  materializations  an  invisible  head  or  director  from 
a. sphere  greatly  in  advance  of  the  earth,  who  may  be 
called  the  chief  chemist,  and  he  passes  his  directions  to  a 
spirit  strong  in  the  power  of  controlling  the  forces  of  the 
astral  plane  and  to  others  under  him,  who  come  in  contact 
with  the  medium  and  direct  the  order  of  the  materializa- 
tions of  personal  friends  of  the  sitters,  besides  sometimes 
materializing  and  showing  themselves  to  the  circle. 

"There  is  a  powerful  movement  going  on  now  in  the 
spirit  world  with  the  object  of  extending  the  knowledge 
of  all  these  subjects,  both  among  spirits  and  men  in  the 
flesh,  and  the  ecclesiasticism,  whether  of  the  East  or  of 
the  "West,  which  would  still  shut  up  such  knowledge 
within  the  precincts  of  the  temple,  may  fight  against  this 
movement,  but  it  will  fight  in  vain.     The  power  is  too 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     251 

strong  for  them.  Men  are  pressing  into  the  avenues  of 
knowledge  on  all  sides  and  thronging  round  the  doors 
winch,  sooner  or  later,  must  be  opened  to  them. 

"You  cannot  suppress  knowledge.  It  is  the  in- 
alienable birthright  of  every  soul.  Neither  can  it  be 
made  the  property  of  any  class.  So  soon  as  the  mind 
begins  to  think,  it  will  search  for  knowledge,  and  feed 
upon  such  crumbs  as  come  in  its  way,  and  surely  it  were 
better  to  impart  the  knowledge  sought  carefully  and 
judiciously  so  it  can  be  assimilated,  than  try  to  suppress 
the  desire  for  it,  or  leave  the  hungry  soul  to  gather  it  for 
itself  in  the  garbage  heaps  of  error. 

"The  human  race  is  advancing  eternally,  and  the 
tutelage  of  the  child  is  no  longer  adapted  to  the  growing 
youth.  He  demands  freedom,  and  will  break  from  the 
leading  strings  altogether  unless  their  tension  is  relaxed, 
and  he  is  Buffered  to  wander  in  the  pathways  of  knowledge 
to  the  utmost  of  his  powers.  Is  it  not  well,  then,  that 
those  who  are  as  the  sages  of  the  race  should  respond  to 
this  thirst  for  light  and  knowledge  by  giving,  through 
every  channel  and  avenue  which  can  be  opened,  the 
wisdom  of  the  ages  in  such  form  as  may  make  it  the  most 
easily  comprehended?  This  planet  is  but  a  speck  in  the 
universe.  What  it  knows  is  only  such  a  speck  of  the 
universal  knowledge  as  is  adapted  to  its  state,  and  each 
hour  requires  that  the  expansion  of  the  human  mind  shall 
be  met  by  the  expansion  of  its  creeds  and  its  resources,  by 
the  pouring  in  of  fresh  streams  of  light,  not  the  suppress- 
ing of  the  old  lest  it  should  be  too  strong  for  the  sight." 


252    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

"And  now,  Hassein,  there  is  another  point  I  wish  to 
ask  yon  about.  I  have  frequently  heard  men  on  earth  say 
they  want  to  know,  if  the  spheres  exist  around  the  earth 
and  between  them  and  the  sun,  why  it  is  that  all  men 
cannot  see  them,  and  why  they  cannot  even  see  those 
spirits  who  are  said  to  be  actually  in  the  room  with  them. 
Naturally,  men  are  not  all  satisfied  to  be  told  simply  that 
it  is  because  they  are  not  clairvoyants,  and  have  not  the 
soul-sight.  They  want  a  still  clearer  explanation.  I  am 
a  spirit  myself  and  I  know  that  I  exist,  and  so  does  my 
dwelling-place,  but  I  am  unable  to  give  an  answer  to  the 
question.     Can  you  do  so  ?" 

Hassein  laughed.  "I  could  give  a  dozen  elaborate 
explanations,  but  neither  you  nor  these  mortals  who  are 
unable  to  see  the  spirits  would  be  much  wiser  after  I  had 
clone  so.  I  must,  therefore,  endeavor  to  make  my  answer 
as  free  from  technicalities  as  I  can.  First,  though,  let 
me  ask  if  you  have  seen  the  photographs  of  unmaterialized 
spirits  which  have  been  obtained  by  certain  mediums  in 
the  flesh.  You  will  have  noticed  that  to  mortal  sight 
they  present  .a  semi-transparent  appearance.  The  material 
doors  and  windows,  furniture,  etc.,  show  through  the 
figures  of  the  spirits. 

"Now  that  gives  you  a  very  good  idea  of  the  amount 
of  materiality  possessed  by  an  astral  body  (the  first  degree 
of  spiritualized  matter).  The  material  particles  are 
spread  so  thinly  that  they  are  like  a  fine  net-work  united 
by  invisible  atoms  of  a  more  etherealized  nature — so  sub- 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     253 

limated  in  fact  that  they  cannot  be  impressed  upon  the 
most  sensitive  plates  now  used  by  photographers.  Spirits 
after  they  leave  the  earth  plane  cannot  be  photographed 
by  the  plates  now  in  use — they  do  not  possess  gross 
enough  atoms  in  the  composition  of  their  bodies,  and  have 
therefore  to  either  materialize  a  body  like  an  earthly  one, 
or  they  may  use  another  method  which  has  been  found 
successful  and  which  is  the  one  commonly  used  in  the  case 
of  spirit  photographs,  where  the  spirits  are  visible  to  clair- 
voyant sight  though  invisible  to  material  eyes.  This  is 
simply  described  by  saying  these  spirits  make  use  of  some 
of  those  astral  envelopes  or  bodies  that  I  have  already  de- 
scribed to  you  as  forming  from  cloud  masses  of  semi- 
material  human  atoms — astral  shells  which  never  served 
as  the  covering  of  any  soul,  and  which  are  so  plastic  in 
their  nature  that  spirits  can  mold  them  into  their  own 
likeness  as  a  sculptor  molds  the  clay.  These  replicas  can 
be  and  are  photographed,  bearing  a  greater  or  less  resem- 
blance to  the  spirit,  according  as  his  will  power  and  his 
knowledge  enable  him  to  stamp  his  likeness  upon  them, 
and  though  they  are  not  strictly  speaking  the  photos  of 
the  spirits  themselves,  yet  they  are  none  the  less  evidence 
of  spirit  power  and  of  the  existence  of  the  spirit  who  has 
made  use  of  them,  because  each  spirit  must  himself  stamp 
his  own  identity  upon  the  plastic  astral  form,  while  more 
advanced  scientific  spirits  prepare  that  form  to  receive 
the  impression. 

"In  the  case  of  materialized  spirits'  photographs,  the 
spirits  really  make  a  body  from  the  more  material  atoms 
and  clothe  themselves  in  it. 

"A  clairvoyant  seeing  one  of  these  astral  forms  about 
to  be  photographed  would  probably  not  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish between  it  and  a  true  spirit  man  or  woman,  be- 
cause the  power  of  distinguishing  between  them  is  not  yet 
developed  in  mediums,  neither,  as  a  rule,  do  they  know 
why  a  spirit  that  looks  solid  enough  to  them  comes  out  on 
a  photographic  plate  with  a  semi-transparent  appearance. 
They  see  the  more  spiritualized  matter  as  well  as  the 
grosser  astral  atoms,  therefore  it  appears  to  them  as  a 


254    A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

solid  body  with  well  rounded,  well  proportioned  limbs, 
not  as  a  transparent  shadow  of  a  spirit  whose  appearance 
may  well  give  rise  to  the  idea  that  returning  spirits  arc 

mere  shades,  almost,  in  fact,  empty  shells — the  real 
reason  of  the  empty  appearance  being  that,  as  I  have  said, 
the  photographic  appliances  at  preseni  in  use  are  not 
capable  of  transferring  the  whole  spirit's  form  but  only 
these  grosser  particles.  In  the  case  of  a  fully  materialized 
spirit  being  photographed,  this  transparent  appearance 
does  not  exist.  The  form  is  so  perfect,  so  life-like  and 
solid,  that  men  turn  round  and  say  it,  therefore,  cannot 
be  a  spirit  photograph  at  all — it  must  be  nothing  hut  the 
medium.  Blind  seekers,  who  in  trying  to  grasp  a  subject 
so  vast,  so  full  of  the  most  subtle  difficulties,  bring  to 
bear  upon  it  only  the  knowledge  suitable  for  mundane 
things,  and  then  conclude  that  they  are  able  to  decide 
finally  so  momentous,  so  scientific  a  question! 

'"But  to  return  to  your  fjuestion.  Having  shown 
you  how  a  photograph  may  give  a  spirit  whose  appearance 
is  like  that  of  the  traditional  ghost,  I  will  now  show  you 
how  mortals  may  also  sec  them  as  such,  but  to  illustrate 
my  meaning  I  will  first  ask  you  to  imagine  yourself  back 
in  your  earthly  body  with  no  more  powers  of  spirit  sight 
than  you  possessed  then.  Let  us  liken  the  material  and 
spiritual  sight  to  two  eyes.  The  one  we  will  call  the  left, 
the  other  the  right  eye,  and  let  the  left  stand  for  the 
material  sight,  the  right  the  spiritual.  Suppose  you  stand 
with  your  back  to  the  light  and  hold  your  forefinger  in 
front  of  the  right  eye  where  it  can  be  seen  by  that  eye 
only,  the  left  seeing  only  the  wall  before  you — shut  the 
right  eye  and  the  finger  is  invisible,  yet  it  is  there,  only 
not  in  the  line  of  vision  for  the  left,  or  material,  sight. 
Now  open  both  eyes  at  once  and  look  at  your  finger  and 
you  will  nowr  see  it  certainly,  but  owing  to  a  curious 
optical  illusion  it  will  appear  transparent,  a  mere  shadow 
of  a  finger,  the  wall  being  seen  through  it,  and  it  may  be 
likened  to  a  ghost  of  a  finger  although  you  know  it  to  be 
a  solid  reality. 

'"'Thus  you  can  imagine  how  a  person  whose  material 


A  WANDEREE  IX  THE  SPIEIT  LANDS.    255 

sight  is  alone  open  cannot  see  that  which  requires  spirit- 
ual sight  to  discern,  and  how,  when  both  the  material 
and  spiritual  sight  are  open  at  the  same  moment  a  spirit 
may  be  visible  but  with  the  same  transparent  appearance 
as  your  finger  had  just  now.  Hence  has  arisen  the  pop- 
ular idea  of  a  ghost.  A  clairvoyant,  looking  at  any  spirit- 
ual object  with  the  spiritual  sight,  does  so  with  the 
material  sight  closed  through  the  power  of  the  controlling 
intelligence  who  directs  that  person's  mediumship. 
Therefore  to  him  or  to  her  the  spiritual  object  does  pre- 
sent the  appearance  of  a  solid  reality  such  as  a  material 
finger  appears  when  seen  by  the  material  sight  alone. 

"Few  men  know  and  still  fewer  consider  that  even 
their  material  sight  is  dependent  upon  the  material  atoms 
which  fill  the  earth's  atmosphere,  and  without  which 
atoms  there  would  be  no  light  to  see  anything  by. 

•'At  night  mortals  can  see  the  stars — even  those 
which  are  not  themselves  suns — distant  as  they  are,  be- 
cause they  are  material  objects  from  which  the  light  of 
the  sun  is  reflected.  During  the  day  the  stars  are  still 
there,  but  the  immense  mass  of  material  particles  in  the 
earth's  atmosphere  being  illuminated  by  the  reflecting  of 
the  sun's  rays  from  them,  causes  so  dense  an  atmosphere 
of  light  that  the  stars  are  veiled  and  no  longer  visible  to 
material  eyes.  Ascend,  however,  above  this  material 
atmosphere  of  illuminated  atoms,  and,  behold,  the  stars 
are  again  visible  even  at  mid-day  and  the  surrounding 
ether  of  space,  being  free  from  such  material  particles,  is 
quite  dark.     There  is  nothing  to  reflect  the  sun's  rays. 

"Thus,  although  the  mortal  would  be  nearer  to  the 
sun,  yet  its  light  is  no  longer  visible  to  his  material  eyes, 
which  can  only  see  when  there  is  some  material  object, 
however  small,  to  reflect  the  light  of  the  sun  for  him. 
How,  then,  does  man  know  that  the  light  of  the  sun  is 
traveling  through  the  ether  space  to  earth?  Only  by 
reason  and  analogy,  not  by  sight,  for  beyond  the  earth's 
atmosphere  the  sun's  light  is  invisible  to  him.  Men  know 
tlif  light  of  the  moon  to  be  only  the  light  of  the  sun 
reflected  from  the  moon's  surface.     Experience  and  ex- 


256    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

pcriment  have  proved  this,  and  it  is  now  universally 
admitted.  In  like  manner  each  little  atom  of  material 
matter  floating  in  the  earth's  atmosphere  is  an  infinitesi- 
mal moon  to  reflect  the  sun's  light  for  man  and  brighten 
earth  with  the  splendor  of  these  reflections.  So  again 
those  minute  particles  that  are  continually  being  thrown 
off  into  the  atmosphere  by  the  earth  itself,  are  but  the 
larger  and  grosser  atoms  enclosing  or  rather  revolving 
round,  minute  spiritual  germs  that  form  a  spiritual  atmos- 
phere around  the  earth  and  reflect  for  clairvoyants  the 
spiritual  elements  of  the  light  of  the  sun.  This  spiritual 
atmosphere  forms  what  is  known  as  the  astral  plane,  and 
bears  the  same  proportion  of  density  to  astral  bodies  that 
the  material  atmosphere  does  to  mortal  bodies,  and  the 
light  from  the  spiritual  elements  of  the  sun  striking  upon 
these  spiritual  particles  is  the  light  of  the  astral  plane  by 
which  spirits  see;  the  material  atmosphere  of  earth  being 
invisible  to  them  even  as  this  spiritual  atmosphere  is  in- 
visible to  the  material  sight  of  mortals.  Is  it  not,  then, 
easy  to  imagine  that  the  spirit  spheres  may  exist  around 
the  earth,  and  between  man  and  the  material  envelope  of 
the  sun  without  his  being  able  to  see  them,  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  his  spiritual  sight  is  closed  and  he  can  only 
see  what  is  material?  The  spiritual  spheres  and  their 
inhabitants  are  certainly  more  transparent  and  intangible 
to  mortal  sight  than  his  finger  appeared  just  now.  Yet 
they  exist  and  are  as  solid  a  reality  as  his  finger,  and  are 
only  invisible  by  reason  of  his  imperfect  sight,  which  is 
limited  to  material  things  of  comparatively  great  density." 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     257 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

I  was  always  fond  of  watching  the  clouds  float  over 
the  sky  and  shape  themselves  into  pictures  suggested  by 
my  thoughts.  Since  I  reached  the  second  sphere  of  the 
spirit  land  my  skies  have  always  had  clouds  floating  over 
them,  lovely  light  fleecy  clouds  which  shape  themselves 
into  a  thousand  forms  and  take  on  the  most  lovely  shades 
of  color,  sometimes  becoming  rainbow  hued  and  at  others 
of  the  most  dazzling  white,  and  then  again  vanishing  away 
altogether.  I  have  been  told  by  some  spirits  that  in  their 
skies  they  never  see  a  cloud,  all  is  serene  clear  beauty;  and 
no  doubt  it  is  so  in  their  lands,  for  in  the  spirit  world  our 
thoughts  and  wishes  form  our  surroundings.  Thus,  be- 
cause I  love  to  see  clouds  they  are  to  be  seen  in  my  sky,  at 
times  veiling  and  softening  its  beauties  and  making  cloud- 
castles  for  me  to  enjoy. 

Now,  some  time  after  I  obtained  my  little  home  in 
"the  Morning  Land  I  began  to  see  between  myself  and  my 
cloud-pictures  a  vision  which,  like  the  mirage  seen  in  the 
desert,  hovered  on  the  horizon,  distinct  and  lifelike,  only 
to  melt  away  as  I  gazed.  This  was  a  most  lovely  ethereal 
gate  of  wrought  gold,  such  as  might  be  the  entrance  to 
some  fairy  land.  A  clear  stream  of  water  flowed  between 
myself  and  this  gate,  while  trees  so  fresh,  so  green,  so 
aerial,  they  seemed  like  fairy  trees,  arched  their  branches 
over  it  and  clustered  at  the  sides.  Again  and  again  did  I 
see  this  vision,  and  one  day  while  I  was  gazing  at  it  my 
father  came  unnoticed  by  me  and  stood  by  my  side.  He 
touched  my  shoulder  and  said: 


B58     A  WAX  DEREB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

'TFranchezzo,  that  gate  is  inviting  you  to  go  nearer 
and  see  it  for  yourself.  It  is  the  entrance  to  the  highest 
circle  Of  this  second  sphere,  and  it  is  within  those  gates 
thai  your  new  home  is  waiting  for  you.  You  might  have 
gone  some  time  ago  into  those  circles  which  lie  between, 
yen  and  it,  had  not  your  affection  for  this  little  cottage 
made  you  content  to  remain  in  it.  Now,  however,  it 
would  he  as  well  for  you  to  go  forth  and  see  if  the  wonders 
of  that  new  land  will  not  still  more  delight  you.  I  am, 
as  you  know,  in  the  third  sphere,  which  will,  therefore, 
he  still  above  you.  hut  the  nearer  you  approach  to  me  the 
more  easily  can  I  visit  you,  and  in  your  new  home  we  shall 
he  much  oftener  together." 

I  was  so  surprised  I  could  not  answer  for  a  little 
time.  It  seemed  incredible  that  I  should  be  able  so  soon 
to  pass  those  gates.  Then,  taking  my  father's  advice,  I 
bade  a  regretful  adieu  to  my  little  home  (for  I  grow  much 
attached  to  places  which  I  live  long  in)  and  set  forth  to 
journey  to  this  new  country,  the  gate  shining  before  me 
all  the  time,  not  fading  away  as  it  had  done  before. 

In  the  spirit  land  where  the  surface  is  not  that  of  a 
round  globe  as  with  the  planets,  you  do  not  see  the  objects 
on  the  horizon  vanishing  in  the  same  way,  and  earth  and 
sky  meeting  at  last  as  one.  Instead  you  see  the  sky  as  a 
vast  canopy  overhead,  and  the  circles  which  are  above  you 
seem  like  plateaux  resting  upon  mountain  tops  on  your 
horizon,  and  when  you  reach  those  mountains  and  see  the 
new  country  spread  out  before  you,  there  are  always  on 
its  horizon  again  more  mountains  and  fresh  lands  lying 
higher  than  those  you  have  reached.  Thus  also  you  can 
look  down  on  those  you  have  passed  as  upon  a'  succession 
of  terraces,  each  leading  to  a  lower,  less  beautiful  one,  till 
at  last  you  see  the  earth  plane  surrounding  the  earth  itself, 
and  then  beyond  that  again  (for  those  spirits  whose  sight 
is  well  developed)  lie  another  succession  of  terrace-like 
lands  leading  down  to  Hell.  Thus  circle  melts  into  circle 
and  sphere  into  sphere,  only  that  between  each  sphere 
there  exists  a  barrier  of  magnetic  waves  which  repels  those 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.'  259 

from  a  lower  sphere  who  seek  to  pass  it  until  their  con- 
dition has  become  in  harmony  with  the  higher  sphere. 

In  my  journey  to  the  golden  gates  I  passed  through 
several  circles  of  this  second  sphere,  whose  cities  and 
dwelling-places  would  have  tempted  me  to  linger  and 
admire  them  had  I  not  been  so  eager  to  view  the  fair  land 
which  was  now  the  goal  of  my  hopes.  I  knew,  moreover, 
that  I  could  at  any  time  on  my  way  to  earth  stop  and 
explore  those  intermediate  lands,  because  a  spirit  can 
always  retrace  his  steps  if  he  desires  and  visit  those 
below  him. 

At  last  I  reached  the  top  of  the  last  range  of  moun- 
tains between  me  and  the  golden  gates,  and  saw  stretched 
out  before  my  eyes  a  most  lovely  country.  Trees  waved 
their  branches  as  in  welcome  to  me  and  flowers  blossomed 
everywhere,  while  at  my  feet  was  the  shining  river  and 
across  it  the  golden  gates.  With  a  great  sense  of  joy  in 
my  heart  I  plunged  into  that  beautiful  river  to  swim 
across,  its  refreshing  waters  closing  over  my  head  as  I 
dived  and  swam.  I  had  taken  no  heed  to  my  clothing 
and  as  I  landed  on  the  farther  side  I  looked  to  see  myself 
dripping  with  water,  but  in  a  moment  I  found  my  cloth- 
ing as  dry  as  could  he,  and  what  was  still  stranger,  my 
grey  robe  with  its  triple  bordering  of  white  had  changed 
into  one  of  the  most  dazzling  snowy  lustre  with  a  golden 
girdle  and  golden  borderings.  At  the  neck  and  wrists  it 
was  clasped  with  little  plain  gold  clasps,  and  seemed  to 
be  like  finest  muslin  in  texture.  I  could  scarce  believe 
my  senses.  I  looked  and  looked  again,  and  then,  with  a 
trembling,  beating  heart  I  approached  those  lovely  gates. 
As  my  hand  touched  them  they  glided  apart  and  I  passed 
into  a  wide  road  bordered  by  trees  and  flowering  shrubs 
and  plants  of  most  lovely  hues — like  flowers  of  earth,  in- 
deed, but  ah!  how  much  more  lovely,  how  much  more 
fragrant  no  words  of  mine  can  convey  to  you. 

The  waving  branches  of  the  trees  bent  over  me  in 
loving  welcome  as  I  passed,  the  flowers  seemed  to  turn  to 
me  as  greeting  one  who  loved  them  well,  at  my  feet  there 
was  the  soft  green  sward,  and  overhead  a  sky  so  clear,  so 


2G0    A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

pure,  so  beautiful,  the  light  shimmering  through  the  trees 
as  never  did  the  light  of  earthly  sun.  Before  me  were 
lovely  blue  and  purple  hills  and  the  gleam  of  a  fair  lake, 
upon  whose  bosom  tiny  islets  nestled  crowned  with  the 
green  foliage  of  groups  of  trees.  Here  and  there  a  little 
boat  skimmed  over  the  surface  of  the  lake  filled  with 
happy  spirits  clad  in  shining  roBes  of  many  different 
colors — so  like  to  earth,  so  like  my  beloved  Southern 
Land,  and  yet  so  changed,  so  glorified,  so  free  from  all 
taint  of  wrong  and  sin! 

As  I  passed  up  the  broad  flower-girt  road  a  hand  of 
spirits  came  to  meet  and  welcome  me,  amongst  whom  I 
recognized  my  father,  my  mother,  my  brother  and  a  sis- 
ter, besides  many  beloved  friends  of  my  youth.  They 
carried  gossamer  scarfs  of  red,  white  and  green  colors, 
which  they  were  waving  to  me,  while  they  strewed  my 
path  with  masses  of  the  fairest  flowers  as  I  approached, 
and  all  the  time  they  sang  the  beautiful  songs  of  our  own 
land  in  welcome,  their  voices  floating  on  the  soft  breeze 
in  the  perfection  of  unison  and  harmony.  I  felt  almost 
overcome  with  emotion;  it  seemed  far  too  much  happiness 
for  one  like  me. 

And  then  my  thoughts  even  in  that  bright  scene 
turned  to  earth,  to  her  who  was  of  all  the  most  dear  to 
me,  where  all  were  so  dear,  and  I  thought,  "Alas  that  she 
is  not  here  to  share  with  me  the  triumphs  of  this  hour; 
she  to  whose  love  more  than  to  any  other  thing  I  owe  it." 
As  the  thought  came  to  me  I  suddenly  beheld  her  spirit 
beside  me,  half  asleep,  half  conscious,  freed  for  a  brief  mo- 
ment from  the  earthly  body  and  borne  in  the  arms  of  her 
chief  guardian  spirit.  Her  dress  was  of  the  spirit  world, 
white  as  a  bride's  and  shimmering  with  sparkling  gems 
like  dew  drops.  I  turned  and  clasped  her  to  my  heart, 
and  at  my  touch  her  soul  awoke  and  she  looked  smilingly 
at  me.  Then  I  presented  her  to  my  friends  as  my  be- 
trothed bride,  and  while  she  was  still  smiling  at  us  all, 
her  guide  again  drew  near  and  threw  over  her  a  large 
white  mantle.     He  lifted  her  in  his  arms  once  more,  and 


A  WANDEBEB  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     261 

like  a  tired  child  she  seemed  to  sink  into  slumber  as  he 
bore  her  away  to  her  earthly  body,  which  she  had  left  for 
a  time  to  share  and  crown  this  supreme  moment  of  my 
joy.  All.  me!  even  in  my  joy  I  felt  it  hard  to  let  her  go, 
to  think  I  could  not  keep  her  with  me;  but  the  thread  of 
her  earthly  life  was  nut  yet  fully  spun,  and  I  knew  that 
she  like  others  must  travel  the  path  of  her  earthly  pil- 
grimage to  its  end. 

"When  my  beloved  was  gone,  my  friends  all  clus- 
tered round  me  with  tender  embraces,  my  mother  whom 
I  had  never  seen  since  I  was  a  little  child — caressing  my 
hair  and  covering  my  face  with  kisses  as  though  I  had 
been  still  the  little  son  whom  she  had  left  on  earth  so 
many,  many  years  ago  that  his  memory  of  her  had  been 
but  dim.  and  that  the  father  had  supplied  the  image  of 
both  parents  in  his  thoughts. 

Then  they  led  me  to  a  lovely  villa  almost  buried  in 
the  roses  and  jasmine  which  clustered  over  its  walls  and 
twined  around  the  slender  white  pillars  of  the  piazza, 
forming  a  curtain  of  flowers  upon  one  side.  What  a 
beautiful  home  it  seemed!  How  much  beyond  what  I 
deserved!  Its  rooms  were  spacious,  and  there  were  seven 
of  them,  each  typical  of  a  phase  in  my  own  character  or 
some  taste  I  had  cultivated. 

My  villa  was  upon  the  top  of  a  hill  overlooking  the 
lake  which  lay  many  hundreds  of  feet  below,  its  calm 
waters  rippled  by  magnetic  currents  and  the  surround- 
ing hills  mirrored  in  its  quiet  bosom,  and  beyond  the  lake 
there  was  a  wide  valley.  As  one  looks  down  from  a 
mountain  top  to  the  low  hills  and  the  dark  valley  and 
level  plains  below,  so  did  I  now  look  down  from  my  new 
dwelling  upon  a  panorama  of  the  lower  spheres  and  cir- 
cles through  which  I  had  passed,  to  the  earth  plane  and 
again  to  the  earth  itself,  which  lay  like  a  star  far  below 
me.  I  thought  as  I  looked  at  it  that  there  dwelt  still  my 
beloved,  and  there  yet  lay  the  field  of  my  labors.  I  have 
sat  many  times  since  gazing  out  on  that  lone  star,  the  pic- 
tures of  my  past  life  floating  in  a  long  wave  of  memory 


369     A  WANDERER  I  \  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

across  my  day-dream,  and  with  all  my  thoughts  was  inter-, 
woven  the  image  of  her  who  is  my  guiding  star. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

The  room  from  which  I  could  see  this  view  of  the 
distant  earth  was  my  music-room,  and  in  it  were  musical 
instruments  of  various  kinds.  Flowers  festooned  the 
walls  and  soft  draperies  the  windows,  which  required  no 
glass  in  their  frames  to  keep  out  the  soft  zephyrs  of  that 
fair  land.  A  honeysuckle,  that  was  surely  the  same  sweet 
plant  which  had  so  rejoiced  my  heart  in  my  little  cottage 
in  the  Morning  Land,  trailed  its  fragrant  tendrils  around 
the  window,  and  on  one  of  the  walls  hung  my  picture  of 
my  darling,  framed  with  its  pure  white  roses  which  always 
seemed  to  me  an  emblem  of  herself.  Here,  too,  I  again 
found  all  my  little  treasures  which  I  had  collected  in  my 
dark  days  when  hope  seemed  so  far  and  the  shadow  of 
night  was  ever  over  me.  The  room  was  full  of  soft 
masses  of  lovely  spirit  flowers,  and  the  furniture  was  like 
that  of  earth  only  more  light  in  appearance,  more  grace- 
ful and  beautiful  in  every  way.  There  was  a  couch  which 
I  much  admired.  It  was  supported  by  four  half-kneeling 
figures  of  wood-nymphs,  carved  as  it  would  seem  from  a 
marble  of  the  purest  white  and  even  more  transparent 
than  alabaster.  Their  extended  arms  and  clasped  hands 
formed  the  back  and  the  upper  and  lower  ends;  their 
heads  were  crowned  with  leaves  and  their  floating  dra- 
peries fell  around  their  forms  in  so  graceful,  so  natural  a 
manner,  it  was  difficult  to  believe  they  were  not  living 
spirit-maidens.  The  covering  of  this  couch  was  of  a  tex- 
ture like  swan's  down,  only  it  was  pale  gold  in  color;  so 
soft  was  it,  it  seemed  to  invite  one  to  repose,  and  often 
have  I  lain  upon  it  and  looked  out  at  the  lovely  scene  and 
away  to  the  dim  star  of  earth  with  its  weary  pilgrims — its 
toiling  souls. 

The  next  apartment  was  filled  with  beautiful  pic- 
tures, lovely  statues,  and  tropical  flowers.  It  was  almost 
more  like  a  conservatory  than  a  room,  the  pictures  being 
collected  at  one  end  of  it  and  the  statues  and  flowers  form- 
ing a  foreground  of  beauty  that  was  like  'another  and 


A  WANDEREB  IX  THE  SPIETT  LANDS.     263 

larger  picture.  There  was  a  little  grotto  with  a  fountain 
playing,  the  water  sparkling  like  diamonds  and  rippling 
over  the  sides  of  the  smaller  basin  into  one  larger  still, 
with  a  murmuring  sound  which  suggested  a  melody  to  me. 
Xear  this  grotto  was  one  picture  which  attracted  me  at 
once,  for  I  recognized  it  as  a  scene  from  my  earthly  life. 
it  was  a  picture  of  one  calm  and  peaceful  evening  in  early 
summer  when  my  beloved  and  I  had  floated  on  the  quiet 
waters  of  an  earthly  river.  The  setting  sun  glowing  in 
the  west  was  sinking  behind  a  hank  of  trees,  while  the 
grey  twilight  crept  over  the  hollows  through  the  shade  of 
the  trees;  and  in  our  hearts  there  was  a  sense  of  peace  and 
rest  which  raised  our  souls  to  Heaven.  I  looked  around 
and  recognized  many  familiar  scenes,  which  had  likewise 
been  full  of  happiness  for  me  and  in  whose  memories 
there  was  no  sting. 

There  were  also  many  pictures  of  my  friends,  and  of 
scenes  in  the  spirit  world.  From  the  windows  I  could 
behold  another  view  than  from  my  music-room.  This 
view  showed  those  lands  which  were  yet  far  above  me,  and* 
whose  towers  and  minarets  and  mountains  shone  through 
a  dim  haze  of  bright  mist,  now  rainbow  hued,  now  golden, 
or  blue,  or  white.  I  loved  to  change  from  the  one  view 
to  the  other,  from  the  past  which  was  so  clear,  to  the  fu- 
ture that  was  still  dim,  still  veiled  for  me. 

In  this  picture  salon  there  was  all  which  could  de- 
light the  eye  or  rest  the  body,  for  our  bodies  require  re- 
pose as  well  as  do  yours  on  earth,  and  we  can  enjoy  to  rest 
upon  a  couch  of  down  earned  by  our  labors  as  much  as 
you  can  enjoy  the  possession  of  fine  furniture  bought 
with  gold  earned  by  your  work  on  earth. 

Another  saloon  was  set  apart  for  the  entertainment 
of  my  friends,  and  here  again,  as  in  the  lower  sphere, 
there  were  tables  set  out  with  a  feast  of  simple  but  de- 
licious fruits,  cakes,  and  other  agreeable  foods  like 
earthly  foods,  only  less  material,  and  there  was  also  the 
delicious  sparkling  wine  of  the  spirit  world  which  I  have 
before  mentioned.  Another  room  again  was  full  of  books 
recording  my  life  and  the  liv£S  of  those  whom  I  admired 


26 i    A  WANDERER  L\  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

or  loved.  There  were  also  books  upon  many  subjects, 
the  peculiarity  in  them  being  that  instead  of  being 
printed  they  seemed  full  of  pictures,  which  when  one 
studied  them  appeared  to  reflect  the  thoughts  of  those 
who  had  written  the  books  more  eloquently  than  any 
words.  Here,  too,  one  could  sit  and  receive  the  inspired 
thoughts  of  the  great  poets  and  literary  men  who  inhabit 
the  sphere  above,  and  here  have  I  sat,  and  inscribed  upon 
the  blank  pages  of  some  book  laid  open  before  me,  poems 
to  her  who  filled  the  larger  half  of  all  my  thoughts. 

From  this  room  we  passed  out  to  the  garden,  my 
father  saying  he  would  show  me  my  chamber  of  repose, 
after  our  friends  were  gone.  Here,  as  in  the  house, 
flowers  were  everywhere,  for  I  always  loved  flowers,  they 
spoke  to  me  of  so  many  things  and  seemed  to  whisper 
such  bright  fancies,  such  pure  thoughts.  There  was  a 
terrace  around  the  house,  and  the  garden  seemed  almost 
to  overhang  the  lake,  expecially  at  one  secluded  corner 
which  was  fenced  in  with  a  bank  of  ferns  and  flowering 
Ihrubs  and  backed  by  a  screen  of  trees.  This  nook  was  a 
little  to  the  side  of  the  house  and  soon  became  my  favorite 
resort;  the  ground  was  carpeted  with  soft  green  moss 
as  you  have  not  on  earth — and  flowers  grew  all  around. 
Here  there  was  a  seat  whereon  I  loved  to  sit  and  look 
away  to  the  earth,  and  fancy  where  my  beloved  one's  home 
would  be.  Across  all  those  millions  of  miles  of  space  my 
thoughts  could  reach  her  as  hers  could  now  reach  me, 
for  the  magnetic  cord  of  our  love  stretched  between  us 
and  no  power  could  ever  shut  us  out  from  each  other 
again. 

"When  I  had  seen  and  admired  all,  my  friends  led 
me  back  to  the  house  and  we  all  sat  down  to  enjoy  the 
feast  of  welcome  which  their  love  had  prepared  for  me. 
Ah!  what  a  happy  feast  that  was.  How  we  proposed  the 
progression  and  happiness  of  each  one,  and  then  drank 
our  toast  in  wine  which  left  no  intoxication  behind,  no 
after  reckoning  of  shame  to  mar  its  refreshing  qualities! 
How  delicious  seemed  this  fruit,  these  numerous  little 
delicacies  which  were  all  the  creations  of  someone's  love 


A  WANDEREE  IN  THE  SPIEIT  LANDS.     265 

for  me.  It  seemed  too  much  happiness,  I  felt  as  in  a  de- 
lightful dream  from  which  I  must  surely  wake.  At  last 
all  my  friends  left  except  my  father  and  mother,  and  by 
them  I  was  conducted  to  the  upper  chambers  of  the 
house.  They  were  three  in  number.  Two  were  for 
such  friends  as  might  come  to  stay  with  me,  and  both  were 
most  prettily  furnished,  most  peaceful  looking;  the  third 
room  was  for  myself,  my  own  room,  where  I  would  retire 
when  I  desired  to  rest  and  to  have  no  companion  but  my 
own  thoughts.  As  we  entered  the  thing  which  attracted 
me  most  and  filled  me  with  more  astonishment  than  any- 
thing I  had  yet  seen,  was  the  couch.  It  was  of  snowy 
white  gossamer,  bordered  with  pale  lilac  and  gold,  while 
at  the  foot  were  two  angels,  carved,  like  the  wood-nymphs, 
out  of  the  dazzling  white  alabaster  I  have  vainly  tried  to 
describe.  They  were  much  larger  than  myself  or  any 
spirits  whom  I  had  seen,  and  their  heads  and  extended 
wings  seemed  almost  to  touch  the  roof  of  my  room,  and 
the  pose  of  these  two  most  lovely  figures  was  perfect  in  its 
grace.  Their  feet  scarce  touched  the  floor  and  with  their 
bending  forms  and  half-outstretched  wings  they  appeared 
to  hover  over  the  bed  as  though  they  had  but  just  ar- 
rived from  their  celestial  sphere. 

They  were  male  and  female  forms,  the  man  wearing 
on  his  head  a  helmet  and  bearing  in  his  hand  a  sword, 
while  the  other  hand  held  aloft  a  crown.  His  figure  was 
the  perfection  of  manly  beauty  and  grace,  and  his  face 
with  its  perfect  features  so  firmly  moulded,  expressing  at 
once  strength  and  gentleness,  had  to  my  eyes  a  look  of 
calm  regal  majesty  that  was  divine. 

The  female  figure  at  his  side  was  smaller — more  deli- 
icate  in  every  way.  Her  face  was  full  of  gentle,  tender, 
womanly  purity  and  beauty.  The  eyes  large  and  soft 
even  though  carved  in  marble,  the  long  tresses  of  her 
hair  half-veiling  her  head  and  shoulders.  One  hand 
held  a  harp  with  seven  strings,  the  other  rested  upon  the 
shoulder  of  the  male  angel  as  though  she  supported  her- 
self with  his  strength,  while  the  lovely  head  was  half  bent 


26G     A  WANDKIJKH  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

forward  and  rested  upon  her  arm,  and  on  her  head  she 
wore  a  crown  of  pure  white  lilies. 

The  look  upon  her  face  was  one  of  such  exquisite 
sweetness,  such  maternal  tenderness,  it  might  well  have 
served  for  that  of  the  Virgin  Mother  herself.  The  at- 
titudes, the  expressions  of  both  were  the  most  perfect  re- 
alization of  angelic  beauty  I  have  seen,  and  for  some  mo- 
ments I  could  but  gaze  at  them  expecting  them  to  melt 
away  before  my  eyes. 

At  last  I  turned  to  my  father  and  asked  how  such 
lovely  figures  came  to  be  in  my  room,  and  why  they  were 
represented  with  wings,  since  I  had  been  told  that  angels 
had  not  really  wings  growing  from  their  bodies  at  -all. 

"My  son,"  he  answered,  "these  lovely  figures  are  the 
gift  of  your  mother  and  myself  to  you,  and  we  would  fain 
think  of  you  as  reposing  under  the  shadow  of  their  wings, 
which  represent  in  a  material  form  the  protection  we 
would  ever  give  you.  They  are  shown  with  wings  because 
that  is  the  symbol  of  the  angelic  spheres,  but  if  you  will 
look  closely  at  them  you  will  find  that  these  wings  are 
like  a  part  of  the  drapery  of  the  forms,  and  are  not  at- 
tached to  the  bodies  at  all  as  though  they  grew  from  the 
shoulder  in  the  fashion  earthly  artists  represent  them. 
The  wings,  moreover,  express  the  power  of  angelic  be- 
ings to  soar  upon  these  outstretched  pinions  into  Heaven 
itself.  The  shining  helmet  and  the  sword  represent  war, 
the  helmet  the  war  of  the  Intellect  against  Error, 
Darkness  and  Oppression.  The  sword,  the  war  man 
must  ever  wage  against  the  passions  of  his  lower  nature. 
The  crown  symbolizes  the  glory  of  virtue  and  self-con- 
quest. 

"The  harp  in  the  woman's  hand  shows  that  she  is  an 
angel  of  the  musical  sphere,  and  the  crown  of  lilies  ex- 
presses purity  and  love.  Her  hand  resting  on  the  man's 
shoulder  is  to  show  that  she  derives  her  strength  and 
power  from  him  and  from  his  stronger  nature,  while  her 
attitude  and  looks  as  she  bends  over  your  couch  express 
the  tender  love  and  protection  of  woman's  maternal  na- 
ture.    She  is  "smaller  than  the  man,  because  in  you  the 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     267 

masculine  elements  are  stronger  than  the  feminine.  In 
some  representations  of  the  angels  of  men's  souls  they  are 
made  of  equal  size  and  stature,  because  in  those  charac- 
ters the  masculine  and  feminine  elements  are  both  equal, 
both  evenly  balanced,  but  with  you  it  is  not  so,  therefore 
are  they  represented  with  the  woman  dependent  upon  the 
stronger  one. 

"The  male  angel  typifies  power  and  protection.  The 
female  angel  purity  and  love.  Together  they  show  the 
eternal  dual  nature  of  the  soul  and  that  one-half  is  not 
complete  without  the  other.  They  also  are  the  symbol- 
ical representation  of  the  twin  guardian  angels  of  your 
soul  whose  wings  may  be  said  in  a  spiritual  sense  to  be 
ever  outstretched  in  protection  over  you." 

Shall  I  confess  that  even  in  that  beautiful  home 
there  were  times  when  I  felt  lonely?  I  had  this  home, 
earned  by  myself,  but  as  yet  I  had  no  one  to  share  it  with 
me,  and  I  have  always  felt  a  pleasure  to  be  doubly  sweet 
when  there  was  some  one  whom  I-  could  feel  enjoyed  it 
also.  The  one  companion  of  all  others  for  whom  I 
sighed  was  still  on  earth,  and  alas!  I  knew  that  not  for 
many  years  could  she  join  me.  Then  Faithful  Friend 
was  in  a  circle  of  the  sphere  above  me  in  a  home  of  his 
own.  and  as  for  Hassein,  he  was  far  above  us  both,  so  that 
though  I  saw  them  at  times  as  well  as  my  dear  father  and 
mother,  there  was  no  one  to  share  my  life  with  me  en  boti 
camarade,  no  one  to  watch  for  my  home-coming,  and  no 
one  for  whom  in  my  turn  I  could  watch.  I  was  often  on 
earth — often  with  my  darling — but  I  found  that  with  my 
advanced  position  in  the  Spirit  world  I  could  not  remain 
for  so  long  at  a  time  as  I  had  been  wont  to  do.  It  had 
upon  my  spirit  much  the  effect  of  trying  to  live  in  a  foggy 
atmosphere  or  down  a  coal  mine,  and  I  had  to  return  more 
frequently  to  the  spirit  land  to  recover  myself. 

I  used  to  sit  in  my  lovely  rooms  and  sigh  to  myself, 
"Ah!  if  I  had  but  some  one  to  speak  with,  some  congenial 
soul  to  whom  I  might  express  all  the  thoughts  which 
crowd  my  mind.''     It   was  therefore  with  the  greatest 


268    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

pleasure  that  I  received  a  visit  from  Faithful  Friend,  and 
heard  the  suggestion  he  had  to  make  to  me. 

"I  have  come,"  said  he,  "on  behalf  of  a  friend  who 
has  just  come  to  this  circle  of  the  sphere,  but  who  has  not 
yet  earned  for  himself  a  home  of  his  own  and  therefore 
desires  to  find  one  with  some  friend  more  richly  endowed 
than  himself.  He  has  no  relatives  here  and  I  thought 
that  you  might  be  glad  of  his  companionship." 

"Most  truly  I  would  be  delighted  to  share  my  home 
with  your  friend." 

Faithful  Friend  laughed.  "He  may  be  called  your 
friend  also,  for  you  know  him.     It  is  Benedetto." 

"Benedetto!"  I  cried  in  astonishment  and  delight. 
"Ah!  then  he  will  indeed  be  doubly  welcome.  Bring 
him  here  as  soon  as  possible." 

"He  is  here  now — he  awaits  at  your  door;  he  would 
not  come  with  me  till  he  was  sure  you  would  really  be 
glad  to  welcome  him." 

"No  one  could  be  more  so,"  I  said.  "Let  us  go  at 
once  and  bring  him  in." 

So  we  went  to  the  door  and  there  he  stood,  looking 
very  different  from  when  I  had  last  seen  him  in  that  awful 
city  of  the  lower  sphere — then  so  sad,  weighed  down,  so 
oppressed — now  so  bright,  his  robes,  like  mine,  of  purest 
white,  and  though  his  face  was  still  sad  in  expression  yet 
there  was  peace,  and  there  was  hope  in  the  eyes  he  raised 
to  mine  as  I  clasped  his  hand  and  embraced  him  as  we  of 
my  Southern  Land  embrace  those  we  love  and  honor.  It 
was  with  much  pleasure  that  we  met — we  who  had  both 
so  sinned  and  so  suffered — and  we  were  henceforth  to  be 
as  brothers. 

Thus  it  was  that  my  home  became  no  more  solitary, 
for,  when  one  of  us  returns  from  our  labors,  the  other  is 
there  to  greet  him,  to  share  the  joy  and  the  care,  and  to 
talk  over  the  success  or  the  failure. 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    269 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

How  can  I  tell  of  the  many  friends  who  came  to  visit 
me  in  this  bright  home,  of  the  cities  I  saw  in  that  fair 
land,  the  lovely  scenes  I  visited?  I  cannot.  It  would 
take  volumes,  and  already  my  narrative  has  reached  its 
limits.  I  shall  only  tell  of  one  more  vision  that  I  had,  be- 
cause in  it  I  was  shown  a  new  path  wherein  I  was  to  labor, 
one  in  which  I  could  apply  to  the  aid  of  others  the  lessons 
I  had  learned  in  my  wanderings. 

I  was  lying  on  the  couch  in  my  room  and  had  awak- 
ened from  a  long  slumber.  I  was  watching,  as  I  often 
did,  those  two  most  beautiful  figures  of  my  guardian  an- 
gels, and  seeing  fresh  beauties,  fresh  meanings  in  their 
faces  and  their  attitudes  every  time  I  looked  at  them, 
when  I  became  conscious  that  my  Eastern  guide,  Ahrinzi- 
man,  in  his  far-off  sphere  was  seeking  to  communicate 
with  me.  I  therefore  allowed  myself  to  become  perfectly 
passive  and  soon  felt  a  great  cloud  of  light  of  a  dazzling 
white  misty  substance  surrounding  me.  It  seemed  to 
shut  out  the  walls  of  my  room  and  everything  from  me. 
Then  my  soul  seemed  to  arise  from  my  spirit  body  and 
float  away,  leaving  my  spirit  envelope  lying  upon  the 
couch. 

I  appeared  to  pass  upwards  and  still  upwards,  as 
though  the  will  of  my  powerful  guide  was  summoning  me 
to  him,  and  I  floated  on  and  on  with  a  sense  of  lightness 
which  even  as  a  spirit  I  had  never  felt  before. 

At  last  I  alighted  upon  the  summit  of  a  high  mount- 
ain, from  which  I  could  behold  tbe  earth  and  its  lower 


270     A  W.WM-KKK  IN  THESPIRIT  LANDS. 

and  higher  spheres  revolving  below  me.  I  also  saw  that 
sphere  which  was  my  home,  but  it  appeared  lo  lie  far  be- 
low the  height  upon  which  I  stood. 

Beside  me  was  Ahrinziman,  and  as  in  a  dream  I 
heard  his  voice  speaking  to  me  and  saying: 

"Behold,  son  of  my  adoption,  the  new  path  in  which 
I  would  have  you  labor.-  Behold  earth  and  her  attendant 
spheres,  and  see  how  important  to  her  welfare  is  this  work 
in  which  I  would  have  you  to  take  part.  See  now  the 
value  of  the  power  you  have  gained  in  your  journey  to 
the  Kingdoms  of  Hell,  since  it  will  enable  you  to  become 
one  of  the  great  army  who  daily  and  hourly  protect  mor- 
tal men  from  the  assaults  of  Hell's  inhabitants.  Behold 
this  panorama  of  the  spheres  and  learn  how  you  con  assist 
in  a  work  as  mighty  as  the. spheres  themselves." 

I  looked  to  where  he  pointed,  and  I  beheld  the  cir- 
cling belt  of  the  great  earth  plane,  its  magnetic  currents 
like  the  ebb  and  flow  of  an  ocean  tide,  bearing  on  their 
waves  countless  millions  upon  millions  of  spirits.  I  saw 
all  those  strange  elemental  astral  .forms,  some  grotesque, 
some  hideous,  some  beautiful.  I  saw  also  the  earth- 
bound  spirits  of  men  and  women  tied  still  by  their  gross 
pleasures  or  their  sinful  lives,  many  of  them  using  the  or- 
ganisms of  mortals  to  gratify  their  degraded  cravings.  I 
beheld  these  and  kindred  mysteries  of  the  earth  plane, 
and  I  likewise  beheld  sweeping  up  from  the  dark  spheres 
below  waves  of  dark  and  awful  beings,  ten  times  more 
deadly  unto  man  in  their  influence  over  him  than  those 
dark  spirits  of  the  earth  plane.  I  saw  these  darker  be- 
ings crowd  around  man  and  cluster  thickly  near  him,  and 
where  they  gathered  they  shut  out  the  brightness  of  the 
spiritual  sun  whose  rays  shine  down  upon  the  earth  con- 
tinually. They  shut  out  this  light,  with  the  dark  mass  of 
their  own  cruel  evil  thoughts,  and  where  this  cloud 
rested  there  came  murder  and  robbery;  and  cruelty  and 
lust,  and  every  kind  of  oppression  were  in  their  train,  and 
death  and  sorrow  followed  them.  "Wherever  man  had 
cast  aside  from  him  the  restraints  of  his  conscience  and 
had  given  way  to  greed  and  selfishness,  and  pride  and  am- 


A  WANDEREK  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    271 

bition,  there  did  these  dark  beings  gather,  shutting  out 
the  light  of  truth  with  their  dark  bodies. 

And  again  I  saw  many  mortals  who  mourned  for  the 
dear  ones  they  had  loved  and  lost,  weeping  most  bitter 
tears  because  they  could  see  them  no  more.  And  all  the 
time  I  saw  those  for  whom  they  mourned  standing  beside 
them,  seeking  with  all  their  power  to  show  that  they  still 
lived,  still  hovered  near,  and  that  death  had  not  robbed  of 
one  loving  thought,  one  tender  wish,  those  whom  death 
had  left  behind  to  mourn.  All  in  vain  seemed  their 
efforts.  The  living  could  not  hear  or  see  them,  and  the 
poor  sorrowing  spirits  could  not  go  away  to  their  bright 
spheres  because  while  those  they  had  left  so  mourned  for 
them  they  were  tied  to  the  earth  plane  by  the  chains  of 
their  love,  and  the  light  of  their  spirit  lamps  grew  dim 
and  faded  as  they  thus  hung  about  the  atmosphere  of 
earth  in  helpless  sorrow. 

And  Ahrinziman  said  to  me:  "Is  there  no  need  here 
for  the  means  of  communication  between  these  two,  the 
living  and  the  so-called  dead,  that  the  sorrowful  ones  on 
both  sides  may  be  comforted?  And,  again,  is  there  no 
need  for  communication  that  those  other  sinful  selfish 
men  may  be  told  of  the  dark  beings  hovering  around  them 
who  seek  to  drag  their  souls  to  hell?" 

Then  I  beheld  a  glorious  dazzing  light  as  of  a  sun 
in  splendor,  shining  as  no  mortal  eye  ever  saw  the  sun 
shine  on  earth.  And  its  rays  dispelled  the  clouds  of 
darkness  and  sorrow,  and  I  heard  a  glorious  strain  of 
music  from  the  celestial  spheres,  and  I  thought  surely 
now  man  will  hear  this  music  and  see  this  light  and  be 
comforted.  But  they  could  not — their  ears  were  closed 
by  the  false  ideas  they  had  gathered,  and  the  dust  and 
dross  of  earth  clogged  their  spirits  and  made  their  eyes 
blind  to  the  glorious  light  which  shone  for  them  in  vain. 

Then  I  beheld  other  mortals  whose  spiritual  sight 
was  partly  unveiled  and  whose  ears  were  not  quite  deaf, 
and  they  spoke  of  the  spirit  world  and  its  wondrous  beau- 
ties. They  felt  great  thoughts  and  put  them  into  the 
language  of  earth.     Thev  heard  the  wondrous  music  and 


272    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRITJANDS. 

tried  to  give  it  expression.  They  saw  lovely  visions  and 
tried  to  paint  them,  as  like  to  those  of  the  spirit  as  the 
limits  of  their  earthly  environments  would  allow.  And 
these  mortals  were  termed  geniuses,  and  their  words  and 
their  music  and  their  pictures  all  helped  to  raise  men's 
souls  nearer  to  the  God  who  gave  that  soul — for  all  that 
is  highest  and  purest  and  best  comes  from  the  inspiration 
of  the  spirit  world. 

Yet  with  all  this  beauty  of  art  and  music  and  litera- 
ture— with  all  these  aspirations — with  all  the  fervor  of 
religious  feeling,  there  was  still  no  way  opened  by  which 
men  on  earth  could  hold  communion  with  the  loved  ones 
who  had  gone  before  them  into  that  land  which  dwellers 
upon  earth  have  called  the  Land  of  Shades,  and  from 
whose  bourn,  they  thought,  no  traveler  could  return — a 
land  that  was  all  vague  and  misty  to  their  thought.  And 
there  was  likewise  no  means  by  which  those  spirit  ones 
.who  sought  to  help  man  to  a  higher,  purer  knowledge  of 
Truth  could  communicate  with  him  directly.  The  ideas 
and  the  fallacies  of  ancient  theories  formulated  in  the 
days  of  the  world's  infancy  continually  mixed  with  the 
newer,  more  perfect  sight  which  the  spirit  world  sought 
to  give,  and  clouded  its  clearness  and  refracted  its  rays  so 
that  they  reached  the  minds  of  mortals  broken  and 
imperfect. 

Then  I  beheld  that  the  walls  of  the  material  life  were 
pierced  with  many  doors,  and  at  each  door  stood  an  angel 
to  guard  it,  and  from  each  door  on  earth  even  to  the  high- 
est spheres  I  saw  a  great  chain  of  spirits,  each  link  being 
one  stage  higher  than  the  one  below  it,  and  to  mortals 
upon  earth  were  given  the  keys  of  these  doors  that  they 
might  keep  them  open  and  that  between  mortals  and  the 
spirit  world  there  might  be  communication. 

But,  alas!  as  time  passed  on  I  saw  that  many  of  those 
who  held  these  keys  were  not  faithful.  They  were  allured 
by  the  joys  and  the  gifts  of  earth,  and  turned  aside  and 
suffered  their  doors  to  close.  Others  again  kept  their 
doors  but  partly  open  and  where  only  light  and  truth 
should  have  shown  they  suffered  errors  and  darkness  to 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     273 

creep  in,  and  again  the  light  from  the  spirit  world  was 
sullied  and  broken  as  it  passed  through  these  darkened 
doorways.  Still  more  sad,  as  time  passed  on,  the  light 
ceased  to  shine  at  all  and  gave  place  to  the  thick  impure 
rays  from  dark  deceitful  spirits  from  the  lower  sphere, 
and  at  last  the  angel  would  close  that  door  to  be  opened 
no  more  on  earth. 

Then  I  turned  from  this  sad  sight  and  beheld  many 
new  doors  opened  where  mortals  stood,  whose  hearts  were 
pure  and  unselfish  and  unsullied  by  the  desires  of  earth; 
and  through  these  doors  poured  such  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  earth  that  my  eyes  were  dazzled,  and  I  had  to  turn 
aside.  When  I  looked  again  I  saw  these  doorways 
thronged  by  spirits,  beautiful,  bright  spirits,  and  others 
whose  raiment  was  dark  and  their  hearts  sad  because  their 
lives  had  been  sinful,  but  in  whose  souls  there  was  a 
desire  for  good,  and  there  were  spirits  who  were  fair  and 
bright,  but  sorrowful,  because  they  could  speak  no  more 
with  those  whom  they  had  left  on  earth;  and  I  beheld 
the  sorrowful  and  the  sinful  spirits  alike  comforted  and 
helped  by  means  of  the  communication  with  the  earth, 
and  in  the  hearts  of  many  mortals  there  was  joy,  for 
death's  dark  curtain  was  drawn  aside  and  there  was  news 
from  those  beyond  the  grave. 

Then  I  saw  pass  before  me  great  armies  of  spirits 
from  all  the  higher  spheres,  their  raiment  of  purest  white 
and  their  helmets  of  silver  and  gold  glittering  in  the 
glorious  spiritual  light.  And  some  among  them  seemed 
to  be  the  leaders  who  directed  the  others  in  their  work. 
And  I  asked,  "Who  are  these?  Were  they  ever  mortal 
men?" 

And  Ahrinziman  answered  me:  "These  were  not 
only  mortal  men  but  they  were  many  of  them  men  of 
evil  lives,  who  by  reason  thereof  descended  to  those 
Kingdoms  of  Hell  which  you  have  seen,  but  who  because 
of  their  great  repentance  and  the  many  and  great  works 
of  atonement  which  they  have  done,  and  the  perfect  con- 
quest over  their  own  lower  natures  which  they  have 
gained,  are  now  the  leaders  in  the  armies  of  light,  the 


2n    A  WAN  DEREE  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

strong  warriors  who  protect  men  from  the  evils  of  those 
lower  spheres." 

From  time  to  time  I  saw  dark  masses  of  spirits,  like 
waves  washing  on  a  shore  and  flowing  over  portions  of  the 
earth,  drawn  thither  by  man's  own  evil  desires  and  greedy 
selfishness,  and  then  I  would  see  them  driven  back  by  the 
armies  of  light  spirits,  for  between  these  two  there  "was  a 
constant  conflict,  and  the  prize  for  which  they  contended 
was  man's  soul;  and  yet  these  two  contending  forces  had 
no  weapons  but  their  wills.  They  fought  not  save  with 
the  repelling  powers  of  their  magnetism  which  was  so 
antagonistic  that  neither  could  long  remain  in  close  con- 
tact with  the  other. 

Ahrinziman  pointed  out  to  me  one  door  at  which 
stood  a  mortal  woman,  and  said:  "Behold  the  chain  there 
is  incomplete;  it  wants  still  one  link  between  her  and  the 
spirit  chain.  Go  down  and  form  that  link,  and  then  will 
your  strength  protect  her  and  make  her  strong;  then  will 
you  guard  her  from  those  dark  spirits  who  hover  near, 
and  help  her  to  keep  open  her  door.  Your  wanderings 
in  those  lower  spheres  have  given  you  the  power  of  re- 
pelling their  inhabitants,  and  where  stronger  power  is 
required  it  will  be  sent  to  protect  her — and  those  who 
seek  to  communicate  through  her  will  do  so  only  when 
yon  see  fit,  and  when  you  desire  to  rest  in  the  spirit  world 
another  guide  will  take  your  place.  And  now  look  again 
at  the  earth  and  the  conflict  that  surrounds  it." 

I  looked  as  he  spoke,  and  saw  black  thunder  clouds 
hovering  over  the  earth  and  gathering  dark  as  night,  and 
a  sound  as  of  a  rushing  storm  swept  upwards  from  the 
dark  spheres  of  hell,  and  like  the  waves  of  a  storm-tossed 
ocean  these  dark  clouds  of  spirits  rolled  up  against  the 
sea  of  bright  spirits,  sweeping  them  back  and  rolling  over 
the  earth  as  though  to  blot  out  from  it  the  light  of  truth, 
and  they  assailed  each  door  of  light  and  sought  to  over- 
whelm it.  Then  did  this  war  in  the  spirit  world  become 
a  war  amongst  men — nation  fighting  against  nation  for 
supremacy.  It  seemed  as  though  in  the  great  thirst  for 
wealth  and  greed  for  conquest,  all  nations  and  all  peoples 


A  YVAXDEEEK  IX  THE  SPIEIT  LAXDS.     275 

must  be  engulfed,  so  universal  was  this  war.  'And  I 
looked  to  see  were  there  none  to  aid.  none  who  would 
come  forth  from  the  realms  of  light  and  wrest  from  the 
dark  spirits  their  power  over  the  earth.  The  seething 
mass  of  dark  spirits  were  attacking  those  doors  of  light 
and  striving  to  sweep  away  those  poor  faithful  mortals 
who  stood  within  them,  that  man  might  be  driven  back 
to  the  days  of  his  ignorance  again. 

Then  it  was  that  like  a  Star  in  the  East  I  saw  a 
light,  glittering  and  dazzling,  all  by  its  brightness,  and  it 
came  down  and  dawn,  and  grew  and  grew  till  I  saw  it  was 
a  vast  host  of  radiant  angels  from  the  heavenly  spheres, 
and  with  their  coming  those  other  bright  spirits  whom  I 
had  seen  driven  back  by  the  forces  of  evil  gathered 
together  again  and  joined  those  glorious  warriors,  and 
this  great  ocean  of  light,  this  mighty  host  of  bright  spirits 
swept  down  to  earth  and  surrounded  it  with  a  great  belt 
of  glorious  light.  Everywhere  I  saw  the  rays  of  light, 
like  spears,  darting  down  and  rending  the  dark  mass  in 
a  thousand  places.  Like  swords  of  fire  flashed  these 
dazzling  rays  and  cut  through  the  dark  wall  of  spirits  on 
all  sides,  scattering  them  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven. 
Vainly  did  their  leaders  seek  to  gather  their  forces 
together  again,  vainly  seek  to  drive  them  on.  A  stronger 
power  was  opposed  to  them,  and  they  were  hurled  back 
by  the  brightness  of  these  hosts  of  heaven  till,  like  a  dark 
and  evil  mist,  they  sank  down,  rolling  back  to  those  dark 
spheres  from  which  they  had  come. 

"And  who  were  these  bright  angels?''  I  asked  again, 
"these  warriors  who  never  drew  back  yet  never  slew,  who 
held  in  check  these  mighty  forces  of  evil,  not  with  the 
sword  of  destruction  but  by  the  force  of  their  mighty 
wills,  by  the  eternal  power  of  good  over  evil?" 

And  the  answer  was:  ''They  are  those  who  are  also 
the  redeemed  ones  of  the  darkest  spheres,  who  long,  long 
ages  ago  have  washed  their  sin-stained  garments  in  the 
pools  of  repentance,  and  have,  by  their  own  labors,  risen 
from  the  ashes  of  their  dead  selves  to  higher  things,  not 
through  a  belief  in  the  sacrifice  of  an  innocent  life  for 


27G    A  WANDEBEB  ENF  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

their  sins,  but  by  ninny  years  of  earnest  labors — many  acts 
of  atonement — by  sorrow  and  by  bitter  tears — by  many 
weary  hours  of  striving  to  conquer  first  the  evil  in  them- 
selves that  they  who  have  overcome  may  help  others  who 
sin  to,  do  so  likewise.  These  are  the  angels  of  the 
heavenly  spheres  of  earth,  once  men  themselves  and  able 
to  sympathize  with  all  the  struggles  of  sinful  men.  A 
mighty  host  they  are,  ever  strong  to  protect,  powerful 
to  save." 

j\Iy  vision  of  the  earth  and  its  surroundings  faded 
away,  and  in  its  stead  I  beheld  one  lone  star  shining  above 
me  with  a  pure  silver  light.  And  its  ray  fell  like  a  thin 
thread  of  silver  upon  the  earth  and  upon  the  spot  where 
my  beloved  dwelt.     Ahrinziman  said  to  me: 

"Behold  the  star  of  her  earthly  destiny,  how  clear 
and  pure  it  shines,  and  know,  oh!  beloved  pupil,  that  for 
each  soul  born  upon  earth  there  shines  in  the  spiritual 
heavens  such  a  star  whose  path  is  marked  out  when  the 
soul  is  born;  a  path  it  must  follow  to  the  end,  unless  by 
an  act  of  suicide  it  sever  the  thread  of  the  earthly  life  and 
by  thus  transgressing  a  law  of  nature  plunge  itself  into 
great  sorrow  and  suffering." 

"Do  you  mean  that  the  fate  of  every  soul  is  fixed,  and 
that  we  are  but  straws  floating  on  the  stream  of  our 
destiny?" 

"Xot  quite.  The  great  events  of  the  earth  life  are 
fixed,  they  will  inevitably  be  encountered  at  certain 
periods  of  the  earthly  existence,  and  they  are  such  events 
ac  those  wise  guardians  of  the  angelic  spheres  deem  to  be 
calculated  to  develop  and  educate  that  soul;  how  these 
events  will  affect  the  life  of  each  soul — whether  they  shall 
be  the  turning  point  for  good  or  ill,  for  happiness  or  for 
sorrow — rests  with  the  soul  itself,  and  this  is  the  preroga- 
tive of  our  free  will,  without  which  we  would  be  but 
puppets,  irresponsible  for  our  acts  and  worthy  of  neither 
reward  nor  punishment  for  them.  But  to  return  to  that 
star — note  that  while  the  mortal  follows  the  destined  path 
with  earnest  endeavor  to  do  right  in  all  things,  while  the 
soul  is  pure  and  the  thoughts  unselfishp  then  does  that 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     277 

star  shine  out  with  clear  unsullied  ray,  and  light  the  path- 
way of  the  soul.  The  light  of  this  star  comes  from  the 
soul  and  is  the  reflection  of  its  purity.  If,  then,  the  soul 
cease  to  be  pure,  if  it  develop  its  lower  instead  of  its 
higher  attributes,  the  star  of  that  soul's  destiny  will  grow 
p&le  and  faint,  the  light  flickering  like  some  will-o'-the- 
wisp  hovering  over  a  dark  morass;  no  longer  will  it  shine 
as  a  clear  beacon  of  the  soul;  and  at  last,  if  the  soul 
become  very  evil,  the  light  of  the  star  will  die  out  and 
expire,  to  shine  no  more  upon  its  earthly  path. 

"It  is  by  watching  these  spiritual  stars  and  tracing 
the  path  marked  out  for  them  in  the  spiritual  heavens, 
thai  spirit  seers  are  able  to  foretell  the  fate  of  each  soul, 
and  from  the  light  given  by  the  star  to  say  whether  the 
life  of  the  soul  is  good  or  evil.  Adieu,  and  may  the  new 
field  of  your  labors  yield  you  the  fairest  fruits." 

He  ceased  speaking  and  my  soul  seemed  to  sink  down 
and  down  till  I  reached  the  spirit  body  I  had  left  lying  on 
my  couch,  and  for  a  brief  moment  as  I  re-entered  it  I  lost 
consciousness;  then  I  awoke  to  find  myself  in  my  own 
room,  with  those  beautiful  white  angels  hovering  over  me, 
symbols,  as  my  father  had  said,  of  eternal  protection 
and  love. 


278     A  WANDERER  IX  Till-:  SPIRIT  LANDS. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

Mj  task  is  done,  my  story  told,  and  it  but  remains  for 
me  to  say  to  all  who  read  it,  that  I  trust  they  will  believe 
it  is  as  it  professes  to  be,  the  true  narrative  of  a  repentant 
bouJ  who  has  passed  from  darkness  into  light,  and  1  would 
have  them  ask  themselves  if  it  might  not  be  well  to  profit 
by  the  experiences  of  others  and  to  weigh  well  the  evi- 
dence for  and  against  the  possibility  of  the  spirit's  return. 
And  you  who  would  think  the  gospel  of  mercy  after  death 
too  easy  a  one,  too  lenient  to  the  sinners,  do  you  know 
what  it  is  to  suffer  all  the  pangs  of  an  awakened  con- 
science? Have  you  seen  that  path  of  bitter  tears,  of 
weary  effort,  which  the  soul  must  climb  if  it  would  return 
to  God?  Do  you  realize  what  it  means  to  undo,  step  by 
step,  through  years  of  darkness  and  suffering  and  bitter 
anguish  of  soul,  the  sinful  acts  and  words  and  thoughts 
of  an  earthly  lifetime  ? — for  even  to  the  uttermost  farth- 
ing must  the  debt  be  paid;  each  must  drink  to  the  last 
dregs  the  cup  that  he  has  filled.  Can  you  imagine  what  it 
is  to  hover  around  the  earth  in  helpless,  hopeless  impo- 
tence, beholding  the  bitter  eurse  of  your  sins  working 
their  baneful  effects  upon  the  descendants  you  have  left, 
with  the  taint  of  your  past  lurking  in  their  blood  and 
poisoning  it?  To  know  that  each  of  these  tainted  lives — 
all  these  beings  cursed  with  evil  propensities  ere  they 
were  born — have  become  a  charge  upon  your  conscience 
in  so  far  as  you  have  contributed  to  make  them  what  they 
are,  clogs  which  will  continue  to  drag  back  your  soul 
when  it  attempts  to  rise,  until  you  shall  have  made  due 


A  WAXDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LAXDS.     2?9 

atonement  to  them,  and  helped  to  raise  them  from  that 
slough  into  which  your  unbridled  passions  have  con- 
tributed to  sink  them?  Do  you  understand  now  how  and 
why  there  may  be  spirits  working  still  about  the  earth 
who  died  hundreds  of  years  ago?  Can  you  imagine  how 
a  spirit  must  feel  who  seeks  from  the  grave  to  call  aloud 
to  others,  and  especially  to  those  he  has  betrayed  to  their 
ruin  as  well  as  his  own,  and  finds  that  all  ears  are  deaf  to 
his  words,  all  hearts  are  closed  to  his  cries  of  anguish  and 
remorse?  He  cannot  now  undo  one  foolish  or  revengeful 
act.  He  cannot  avert  one  single  consequence  of  suffering 
which  he  has  brought  upon  others  or  himself;  an  awful 
wall  has  risen,  a  great  gulf  opened  between  him  and  the 
world  of  living  men  on  earth,  and  unless  some  kind  hand 
will  bridge  it  over  for  him  and  help  him  to  return  and 
speak  with  those  whom  he  has  wronged,  even  the  con- 
fession of  his  sorrow — even  such  tardy  reparation  as  he 
may  still  make  is  denied  to  him.  And  is  there,  then,  no 
need  that  those  who  have  passed  beyond  the  tomb  should 
return  and  warn  their  brethren,  even  as  Dives  sought  to 
return  and  could  not?  Are  men  on  earth  so  good  that 
they  require  no  voice  to  echo  to  them  from  beyond  the 
gates  of  death  a  foreshadowing  of  the  fate  awaiting  them? 
Far  easier  were  it  for  man  to  repent  now  while  still  on 
earth  than  to  wait  till  he  goes  to  that  land  where  he  can 
deal  with  the  things  of  earth  no  more,  save  through  the 
organisms  of  others. 

I  met  a  spirit  once  who  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne 
had  defrauded  another  of  a  property  by  means  of  forged 
title  deeds,  and  who  when  I  saw  him  was  still  earth-bound 
to  that  house  and  land,  utterly  unable  to  break  his  chains 
until  the  help  was  given  him  of  a  medium  through  whom 
he  confessed  where  he  had  hidden  the  true  title  deeds,  and 
gave  the  names  of  those  to  whom  of  right  the  property 
should  belong.  This  poor  spirit  was  freed  by  his  con- 
fession from  his  chain  to  that  house,  hut  not  from  his 
imprisonment  to  the  earth  plane.  He  had  to  work  there 
till  his  efforts  had  raised  up  and  helped  onward  those 
whom  he  had  driven  into  the  wavs  of  sin  and  death  by  his 


880    A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

crime.  Not  till  he  has  done  bo  can  this  spirit  hope  to 
leave  the  earth  plane,  and  there  he  still  works,  striving  to 
undo  the  effects  of  his  past  sin.  Will  anyone  say  his 
punishment  was  too  light?  Shall  anyone  judge  his 
brother  man  and  say  at  what  point  God's  mercy  shall  stop 
and  that  sinner  be  doomed  eternally?  Ah,  no!  Few 
dare  to  face  the  true  meaning  of  their  creeds  or  to  follow 
out  even  in  thought  the  bitter  and  awful  consequences  of 
a  belief  in  eternal  punishment  for  any  of  the  erring 
children  of  C4od. 

I  have  in  these  pages  sought  to  show  what  has  been 
the  true  experience  of  one  whom  the  churches  might 
deem  a  lost  soul,  since  I  died  without  a  belief  in  any 
church,  any  religion,  and  but  a  shadowy  belief  in  a  God. 
My  own  conscience  ever  whispered  to  me  that  there  must 
be  a  Supreme,  a  Divine  Being,  but  I  stifled  the  I  hough  I 
and  thrust  it  from  me.  cheating  myself  into  a  sensfe  of 
security  and  indifference  akin  to  that  of  the  foolish 
ostrich  which  buries  its  head  in  the  sand  and  fancies  none 
can  see  it;  and  in  all  my  wanderings,  although  I  have 
indeed  learned  that  there  is  a  Divine  Omnipotent  Ruler 
of  the  Universe — its  upholder  and  sustainer — I  have  not 
learned  that  he  can  be  reduced  to  a  personality,  a  definite 
shape  in  the  likeness  of  man,  a  something  whose  attributes 
we  finite  creatures  can  argue  about  and  settle.  Neither 
have  I  seen  anything  which  would  incline  me  to  believe 
in  one  form  of  religious  belief  rather  than  in  another. 
"What  I  have  learned  is  to  free  the  mind,  if  possible,  from 
the  boundaries  of  any  and  every  creed. 

The  infancy  of  the  race  of  planetary  man,  when  his 
mental  condition  resembles  that  of  a  child,  may  be  called 
the  Age  of  Faith.  The  Mother  Church  supplies  for  him 
the  comfort  and  hope  of  immortality  and  takes  from  his 
mind  the  burden  of  thinking  out  for  himself  a  theory  of 
First  Cause,  which  will  account  to  him  for  his  own  exist- 
ence and  that  of  his  surroundings.  Faith  steps  in  as  a 
maternal  satisfier  of  the  longings  of  his  imperfectly  de- 
veloped soul  and  the  man  of  a  primitive  race  believes 
without  Questioning  why  he  does  so.     Among  the  early 


A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.    881 

tribes  of  savages  the  more  spiritualized  men  become  the 
mystery  men,  and  then  the  priests,  and  as  age  succeeds  to 
age  the  idea  of  an  established  church  is  formulated. 

Next  comes  the  Age  of  Reason,  when  the  develop- 
ment of  man's  intellectual  faculties  causes  him  to  be  no 
longer  satisfied  with  blind  faith  in  the  unknown,  the 
mother's  milk  of  the  Churches  no  longer  assuages  his 
mental  hunger,  he  requires  stronger  food,  and  if  it  be 
withheld,  lie  breaks  away  from  the  fostering  care  of 
Mother  Church  which  once  sustained  but  which  now  only 
cramps  and  cripples  the  growing  and  expanding  soul. 
Man's  reason  demands  greater  freedom  and  its  due  share 
of  nourishment,  and  must  find  it  somewhere,  and  in  the 
struggle  between  the  rebellious  growing  child  and  the 
Mother  Church,  who  seeks  to  retain  still  the  power  she 
wielded  over  the  infant,  the  Faith  that  once  sufficed  as 
food  comes  to  be  regarded  as  something  nauseous  and  to 
be  rejected  at  all  cost,  hence  the  Age  of  Reason  hecomes  a 
time  of  uprootal  of  all  the  cherished  beliefs  of  the  past. 

Then  comes  another  stage,  in  which  the  child,  now 
grown  to  he  a  youth  who  has  seen  and  tasted  for  himself 
the  joys  and  sorrows,  the  penalties,  and  pleasures  and 
benefits  of  reason,  and  has  thereby  learned  to  put  a  juster 
value  on  the  powers  and  limitations  of  his  own  reasoning 
faculties,  looks  back  at  the  faith  he  once  despised,  and 
recognizes  that  it  also  has  its  beauties  and  its  value.  He 
sees  that  though  faith  alone  cannot  suffice  for  the 
nourishment  of  the  soul  beyond  its  infant  stage,  yet 
reason  alone,  devoid  of  faith,  is  but  a  cold  hard  fare  upon 
which  to  sustain  the  soul  now  becoming  conscious  of  the 
immeasurable  and  boundless  universe  by  which  it  is  sur- 
rounded, and  of  the  many  mysteries  it  contains — mys- 
teries reason  alone  is  not  able  to  explain.  Man  turns  hack 
to  faith  once  more  and  seeks  to  unite  it  with  reason,  that 
henceforth  they  may  assist  each  other. 

\ow  Faith  and  Reason  are  the  central  thought  prin- 
ciples of  two  different  spheres  of  thought  in  the  spirit 
world.  Faith  is  the  vitalizing  principle  of  religion  or 
eiclesiasticism.  as  Reason  is  of  philosophy.     These  two 


m    a  \\.\M)i:i{i;u  i\  the  spirit  lands. 

schools  of  thought  which  appear  at  first  sight  opposed  to 
each  other,  are  oone  the  less  capable  of  being  blended  in 

the  mental  development  of  the  same  personality,  the 
properly  balanced  mind  being  that  in  which  they  air 
equally  proportioned.  Where  one  predominates  over  the 
other  to  a  great  degree,  the  individual — he  he  mortal  or 
disembodied  spirit — will  be  narrow-minded  in  one  diree- 
tion  or  the  other  and  incapable  of  taking  a  just  view  of 
any  mental  problem.  His  mind  will  resemble  a  two 
wheeled  gig  which  has  a  big  and  a  little  wheel  attached  to 
the  same  axle,  and  in  consequence  neither  wheel  ean  make 
due  progress,  the  mental  gig  coming  to  a  stop  till  the 
defect  be  remedied. 

A  man  may  be  thoroughly  conscientious  in  his  desire 
for  truth,  but  if  his  intellectual  as  well  as  his  moral  fac- 
ulties have  not  been  equally  developed,  his  mind  will  be 
like  a  highway  blocked  by  huge  masses  of  error,  so  that 
the  ethereal  rays  from  the  star  of  truth  cannot  penetrate 
it;  they  are  broken  and  refracted  by  the  obstructions,  so 
that  either  they  do  not  reach  the  man's  soul  at  all  or  they 
are  such  distorted  images  of  the  truth  that  they  are 
simply  a  source  of  prejudice  and  error.  The  intellect 
may  be  called  the  eye  of  the  soul,  and  if  the  sight  of  that 
eye  be  imperfect  the  soul  remains  in  mental  darkness, 
however  earnest  may  be  its  desire  for  light.  The  mental 
sight  must  be  developed  and  used  ere  it  can  become  clear 
and  strong. 

Blind  ignorant  faith  is  no  safeguard  against  error. 
The  history  of  religious  persecutions  in  all  ages  is  surely 
proof  of  that.  The  great  minds  of  earth  to  whom  great 
intellectual  discoveries  are  due  have  been  those  in  which 
the  moral  and  intellectual  powers  are  equally  balanced, 
and  the  perfect  man  or  angel  will  be  the  man  in  whom  all 
the  qualities  of  the  soul  have  been  developed  to  their 
highest  point. 

Every  attribute  of  the  soul,  mental  and  moral,  has  its 
corresponding  ray  of  color,  and  the  blending  of  these 
forms  the  beautiful  and  varied  tints  of  the  rainbow,  and 


A  WANDEKEB  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     283 

like  it  they  melt  into  one  another  to  form  the  perfect 
whole. 

In  some  souls  the  development  of  certain  faculties 
will  take  place  more  rapidly  than  that  of  others;  in  some 
certain  seed  germs  of  intellect  ami  morality  will  lie  fal- 
low and  give  no  sign  that  they  exist,  hut  they  are  none  the 
less  there,  and  either  on  earth  or  in  the  great  Hereafter 
they  will  begin  to  grow  and  to  blossom  into  perfection. 

Evil  is  caused  by  the  lack  of  development  of  the 
moral  attributes  in  certain  souls  and  the  over  development 
of  other  qualifies.  The  souls  which  are  now  inhabiting 
the  lower  spheres  are  simply  passing  through  the  process 
of  education  needful  to  awaken  into  active  life  and  growth 
the  dormant  moral  faculties,  and  terrible  as  are  the  evils 
and  sufferings  wrought  in  the  process  they  are  yet  neces- 
sary and  beneficent  in  their  ultimate  results. 

In  the  sphere  where  I  now  dwell  there  is  a  magnifi- 
cent and  beautiful  palace  belonging  to  the  Brotherhood 
of  Hope.  This  palace  is  the  meeting  place  for  all  mem- 
bers of  our  ] brotherhood,  and  in  it  there  is  a  fine  hall  built 
of  what  is  the  spiritual  counterpart  of  white  marble. 
This  hall  is  called  the  "Hall  of  Lecture,"  and  in  it  we 
assemble  to  listen  to  discourses  delivered  to  us  by  ad- 
vanced spirits  from  the  higher  sphere.  At  the  upper  end 
there  is  a  magnificent  picture  called  "The  Perfect  Man." 
That  is  to  say  it  represents  a  man,  or  rather  angel,  who  is 
relatively  perfect.  I  say  relatively  perfect,  because  even 
the  utmost  perfection  which  can  be  imagined  or  attained, 
can  only  be  relative  to  the  still  greater  heights  which  must 
be  eternally  possible  for  the  soul.  Unlike  Alexander  who 
mourned  that  he  had  left  no  more  worlds  to  conquer,  the 
soul  has  no  limits  put  to  the  possibilities  of  its  intellectual 
and  moral  conquests.  The  universe  of  mind  is  as  bound- 
less as  that  of  matter,  and  as  eternal.  Hence  none  can 
use  the  word  perfect  as  implying  a  point  beyond  which 
progress  is  impossible. 

In  the  picture  this  relatively  perfect  angel  is  repre- 
-cnted  as  standing  on  the  highest  pinnacle  of  the  celestial 
spheres.     The  earth  and  her  attendant  spheres  lie  Ear 


284     A  WANDERER  IN  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

below  him.  His  gaze  is  turned  with  an  expression  of 
wonder,  delight,  and  awe  to  those  far  distant  regions 
which  lie  beyond  the  power  of  mortal  mind  to  grasp, 
regions  which  lie  beyond  our  solar  universe.  They  are 
become  fur  the  angel  his  new  Land  of  Promise; 

On  his  head  the  angel  wears  a  golden  helmet,  sym- 
bolizing spiritual  strength  and  conquest.  On  one  arm  he 
bears  a  silver  shield  typical  of  the  Protection  of  Faith. 
His  garments  are  of  dazzling  white  showing  the  purity  of 
his  soul,  and  the  wide  outstretched  wings  symbolize  the 
power  of  intellect  to  soar  into  the  highest  thought-regions 
of  the  universe.  Behind  the  angel  there  is  a  white  cloud 
spanned  by  a  rainbow  whose  every  tint  and  shade  blended 
into  perfect  harmony  shows  that  the  angel  has  developed 
to  the  highest  degree  every  intellectual  and  moral 
attribute  of  his  soul. 

The  rich  coloring  of  this  picture,  the  purity  of  its 
dazzling  white,  the  brilliancy  of  its  glowing  tints,  no  pen 
can  describe,  no  earthly  brush  could  ever  paint,  and  yet 
I  am  told  it  falls  far  short  of  the  beauty  of  the  original 
picture,  which  is  in  the  highest  sphere  of  all,  and  which 
represents  a  former  grand  master  of  our  order  who  has 
passed  on  to  spheres  beyond  the  limits  of  our  solar  system. 
Replicas  of  this  picture  are  to  be  seen  in  the  highest  circle 
of  each  earth  sphere  in  the  buildings  belonging  to  the 
Brotherhood  of  Hope,  and  they  show  the  connecting  links 
between  our  Brotherhood  and  the  celestial  spheres  of  the 
solar  system,  and  also  to  what  heights  all  may  aspire  in 
the  ages  of  eternity  before  us.  Yes,  each  one  of  us,  the 
most  degraded  brother  who  labors  in  the  lowest  sphere  of 
earth,  and  even  the  most  degraded  soul  that  struggles 
I  here  in  darkness  and  sin  unspeakable,  is  not  shut  out,  for 
all  souls  are  equal  before  God  and  there  is  nothing  which 
has  been  attained  by  one  that  may  not  be  attained  by  all 
if  they  but  strive  earnestly  for  it. 

Such,  then,  is  the  knowledge  I  have  gained,  such  the 
beliefs  I  have  arrived  at  since  I  passed  from  earth  life,  but 
I  cannot  say  I  have  seen  that  any  particular  belief  helps 


A  WANDERER  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS.     B85 

or  retards  the  souPs  progress,  except  in  so  far  as  this,  that 
some  creeds  have  a  tendency  to  cramp  the  mind  and  ob- 
scure  the  clearness  of  its  vision  and  distort  its  idea-  of 
right  and  wrong,  thereby  preventing  those  who  hold  those 
beliefs  from  possessing  the  perfect  freedom  of  thought 
and  absence  of  prejudice  which  can  alone  fit  the  soul  to 
rise  to  the  highest  spheres. 

I  have  written  this  story  of  my  wanderings  in  the 
hope  that  amongst  those  who  read  it  may  he  found  some 
who  will  think  it  worth  while  to  inquire  whether,  after 
all.  it  may  not  he.  as  it  professes  to  he.  a  true  story. 
There  may  also  be  others  who  have  lost  those  who  were 
very  dear  to  them,  hut  whose  lives  were  not  such  as  gave 
hope  that  they  could  he  numbered  with  those  whom  the 
churches  call  '"The  Blessed  Dead  who  die  in  the  Lord"' — 
dear  friends  who  have  not  died  in  the  paths  of  goodness 
and  truth — I  would  ask  those  mourners  to  take  hope  and 
to  believe  that  their  beloved  hut  erring  friends  may  not 
lie  wholly  lost — norutterly  beyond  hope.  yes.  even  though 
some  may  have  perished  by  their  own  hands  and  under 
circumstances  which  would  seem  to  preclude  all  hope.  1 
would  ask  those  on  earth  to  think  over  all  that  I  have 
said  and  to  ask  themselves  whether  even  yet  their  prayers 
and  their  sympathy  may  not  he  able  to  help  and  comfort 
those  who  need  all  the  help  and  comfort  that  can  he  given 
to  them. 

From  my  home  in  the  Bright  Land — so  like  the  land 
of  my  birth — I  go  still  to  work  upon  the  earth  plane  ami 
among  those  who  are  unhappy.  I  also  help  to  cany  for- 
ward the  great  work  of  spirit  communion  between  the 
living  of  earth  and  those  whom  they  call  dead. 

I  spend  a  portion  of  each  day  with  my  beloved,  and 
I  am  able  to  help  and  protect  her  in  many  ways.  I  am 
also  cheered  in  my  home  in  the  spirit  land  by  the  visits  of 
many  friends  and  companions  of  my  wanderings,  and  in 
that  bright  land  surrounded  by  so  many  memorials  of  love 
and  friendship,  I  await  with  a  grateful  heart  that  happy 
time  when  my  beloved  one's  earthly  pilgrimage  shall  be 


28G     A  WAXnKKKK  IX  THE  SPIRIT  LANDS. 

finished,  when  her  lamp  of  life  shall  have  burned  out  and 

her  star  of  earth  lias  set,  and  she  shall  conic  to  join  me  in 
an    even    brighter    home,  where  for  us  both  shall  shine 
eternally  the  twin  Mars  of  Hope  and  Love. 
(The  End.) 


Ci 


14  DAY  USE 

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